Adventures in Advaita with Tony Parsons

[catseternity2]

This enlightenment thing is about finding Your truth. Why discuss Tony Parsons interpretation of his truth? Teachers can help you get a bigger picture, map your lies, but ultimately You are the only authority in your search, you have to go alone. What is your experience? Tony Parsons is inside your reality that you are inquiring, so how can he be your authority? Being one with everything isn't the point, only a side effect. The point is realizing the Only truth there is in Your reality.

[scottywont]

"there’s no one sitting in this room; there is no one. there is no separate individual. all there is, is what’s happening." but what is it that's happening? tony parsons would charge me with being a seeker. but of course! that's what drives the happening. he's not answering any questions. rather, he's using self-confirming logic to explain his points. I take advaita very seriously, but I think there is indeed something flawed about his solution, and the solution of many that came before him.

[YAHPorpoise777]

How am I going to tell you that Tony Parsons is controlled by a devil? It will seem laughable to you.

How do you know that this is not true though? Arent you bored of lies? Dont you long for real love, and real answers?

Dont you long for the truth? Why do you assume out of the billions of souls on earth, this one person is telling you the truth, have you not heard that there are even many teachers of similar concepts, and even they do not agree? Why then, gamble your life on this man?

[MicOnTesting]

Parsons speaks of the teacher who thinks they are enlightened but are not.

A teacher who insists on specific practices to do in order to become enlightened.

A teacher who speaks to seekers as separate entitles.

Most teachers I know of - don't claim to be enlightened, don't claim there to be practices that an I can do to be free of I, and don't claim to see others as separate from the Self...

So why bother with other teachers?

Does he need to distinguish himself from others?

[everest001]

Beautiful message as always. Thanks for posting.

[pluggalugs]

and what about all the other great saints who are no in agreement with advaita...Madhvacharya, Chaitanya, Vishnuswami, they all understand what is Advaita (the misinterpretation of the vedas by Shiva incarnate as Sankaracharaya) but they say, due to realisation and scriptural evidence, that the illusory sense of individuality (mind and body) is a shadow of pure personal individuality which is on the other side of the impersonal nothingness Tony speaks of.

[JanIroth]

so I get it, big deal!

[swingtrade2]

can't drop the dropper

[MotionlessArrival]

All this 3rd person plural speaking actually constructs an abstract entity. It is alienating for those who are discounted by it. This man lives in an abstract concept of his own socially constructed, determined self which he then projects n disowns; a position characterised as reactionary by progressive politicians n academics, and inauthentic by heidegger n deconstructive counsellors.

He continues in his presumptive use of the word 'is'. He nowhere explains what he understands by this 'is'.

[zyxquark]

You sound like a group of slightly pompous lunatics.

[vivekachudamani1]

@zyxquark agreed!



[drendorphin1]

Wow, look at all those brains separated by skull bone and air. Maybe the skull bone and air isn't really there, (sarcasm) This is a bunch of bullshit.

[Rrrrobbo]

@drendorphin1 erm, no, noone said that skullbone didnt exist, it did exist, there was just noONE to perceive of it, there is a subtle yet massive disctinction that hasn't yet been grasped, 'you' doesn't exist, it's not really that complicated, the idea of the YOU that 'YOU' have, was only another idea... got it yet??

[Rrrrobbo]

@drendorphin1 Maybes you should check out some alan watts? I promise you, this isn't bullshit, the only bullshit is in your mind... XD, it is only your mind that distinguishes the glass from the air surrounding it, thus it is only in your mind that you are seperate from the world, all there was was illusory concepts of seperateness, nothing to worry about XD

[LooksAeterna]

...and Parson is using that free will in the pragmatic sense himself. Proof: he has a watch on his wrist. That is a device to make proper choices. He uses it to inform his conscious awareness so that he can to a proper degree influence the sequence of events rather than just being unconsciously driven.

So he obviously chooses, and yet there is no choice ? Come on.

This is called a "performative self-contradiction".

[EdenConsciousness]

@LooksAeterna Thoughts happen, actions happen. No one's doing them. Maybe the thoughts which appear in consciousness have the the mental label "choice" attached to them, but that label is itself just another thought arising spontaneously in consciousness. Thoughts spring forth spontaneously in the Oneness; you cannot predict what your next thought will be.

[LooksAeterna]

Another case of philosophical naivety: "Free will" does not imply a separate, completely independent will - that trivially does not exist, and we don't need Parsons to tell us that: if there was a free will in that extreme sense, it couldn't be ours, we couldn't direct it.

"Free will" is a pragmatic term which simply signifies that your conscious reflection is not forced at gun point to yield its proper judgement of unconscious impulses+forces. That "free will" does exist and must be exercised.

[milascave]

If you realy experiace who you are

you will realize that there is no you to experiance, no you to experiance it.

"No feeling, no thinker, just feeling and thought,

and orans of sense that perceive 'till they do not."

[nowbellhere]

So consciousness is therefore a concept of emptiness in which aliveness just is, as what is happening. There is just what is happening. What is happening is happening to no one as nothing that becomes everything. Love it.

[mygodiswithin]

How can there be Oneness, when I do not really exist?

[swingtrade2]

@mygodiswithin existence is prior to conceptualization and conceptualization has no author. i claim existence but it cannot be identified because it it not an object

[reycafe]

Hi! It's so scary sometimes because I run out of money because I become lazy or lax out of listening to Tony. Is this natural?. Thanks

[1Earth0Karma8]

@reycafe So, dont listen to Tony.

[Niajoybody]

WOW....what is being pointed to....boundless unknowingness....falling into causeless Joy....every cell in this apparent body waking up to inherent Joy!!

[bzel333]

I hope those people in the audience didn't pay to hear that stuff.

[oxen1957]

bzel666.must you hunt things down to deny.....because your to simple to understand?

[mrcuteblackie]

These teachers are just making money. If they were so "non-dual" they would have performed miracle. NOT a single miracle from Tony Parsons? What a shame to Non-duality. Can he tell what colour of pants my skinny girlfriend is wearing?

[KosmicCitizen]

The development of alleged "siddhis" or mystical powers hasn't a thing to do with contemplation, at least no more so than anything else.

[shastrayana]

Yep Kosmic ,Siddhis are the bi product of enlightenment. the actual product is enlightenment itself.

[samborub]

If he was just interested in making money maybe he would try and sell it as a miracle, but he doesn't. Non-duality and self-help magical mysticism is not same thing, though some teachers might not have a line between the two.

[MrSigma]

Color of pants of your skinny girlfriend is a concept.

Pants of your skinny girlfriend is a concept.

Skinniness of your girlfriend is a concept.

Your girlfriend is a concept.

"You" as you think is also a concept.

These concepts arise in your consciousness.

So drop the concepts and experience who you are.

Pure consciousness!

Advaita !!!

[snowypetrel]

Give him credit, he's already dropped his skinny girlfriends pants, moved from the concept to pure action.

[oxen1957]

lol

[gainsbourg66]

According to Tony these concepts do not arise in consciousness - they are arising in oneness (in contraction, playing the game of being two). Oneness is playing the game (with oneness) of being separate, eg. you, your child or your mother. There is no point in imploring anyone to "drop the concepts" because there's no one there to drop anything. Liberation can only come from this ultimate magic (oneness) liberating itself from its own illusion. All there is, is this ultimate, unknowable magic.

[kasuskasus]

@MrSigma Your concept of Pure Consciousness is a concept.

:)

[lollolllolllll]

@MrSigma Yes concepts, but then again than is what the left brain deos. The silent right brain absorbs information without sorting through it. Non-dualism is merely placing the self concept over in the right hemisphere vs. the left. It is a brain function, not a cosmic discovery. The cosmos is not you. You are what is bound by your sheath of skin, with all functions within. That is you, and to say that you are also a chair, and a tree, and the cosmos is brain damage. Is it not?

[swingtrade2]

@MrSigma can't drop the dropper

[swingtrade2]

@MrSigma can;t drop the dropper

[muphart]

@MrSigma Pure consciousness is also a concept...."dropping concepts" is also a concept. There is nothing to do or experience. It's impossible to drop the world of concepts. Pay better attention next time! lol

[JonMcIntyre68]

@MrSigma And even the idea that we have consciousness wherein things can arise is an idea. Things just arise, apparently but they arise in no one's consciousness and arise for no one. They simply arise, apparently.

[rapolaz]

@MrSigma except that there is no-one who can drop the concepts...

[VonHuger1]

@MrSigma or don't drop the concepts & never experience who you are...it matters not.

[metaalchemy]

@MrSigma That is funny. that is pretty funny

[cosmicjazzer]

I cannot avoid the thought that some followers of Advaita will tend to deny aspects of their 'small self' Why would this 'denial' matter if this self is illusory? Well I'm not at all sure it is WHOLLY illusory, that's the point.

Certainly it (the 'small' or individual self) cannot be what it appears, but I have a feeling something is getting lost in translation here...

[mrcuteblackie]

Live your lives, and try to enjoy. Nonduality will bring you no more happiness than a football fan, or an admire of transsexuals, or any follower of a certain hobby. That is why the nondulaists try to make money from their philosophy, else they lose it all. Get "non-dual" and you will be in looney bins singing merry melodies.

[VitaleBand]

To mrcuteblackie

...in tyour comments, you are somehow comparing tony parsonsto jesus, you are asking for a miracle, you're still there, and you're still thinking you are right and other people are not.....

but the really really fun part is that, YOU ARE NOT EVEN MAKING THIS COMMENTS....THIS IS SIMPLY HAPPENING

tony voice clearly says, THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TEACHINGS...because THERE IS NO ONE TO TEACH

[shastrayana]

The "I" the ego or the smaller self is illusory becz this "I" or ego solely exist on memory , memory is always an illusion becz either it will be in past or in the future both are illusory too.

[cosmicjazzer]

Two things... In practical terms, how does 'there is no free will" work? I appreciate that the idea of a separate entity perceiving the outside world cannot, at the very least, be the whole story but still this apparently seperate being needs to make decisions many times a day.... I suspect that Advaita is a far more sublime 'state' (if you like) than can be 'got' with the mind and is better realised naturally and spontaneously.

[NonEvernoThing]

Everything is just happening! No need for choice or effort. It is already a harmony. This is liberating truth.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Yes, I got a text message once where it said; The consciousness is so pure that whatever one does in order to purify it only adds inpurity. Interesting indeed.

[Spankki]

This is all very interesting but I was wondering though if there are no choices to be made and an individual really doesn't decide anything no matter how much it would appear to be so then how does that comply with morals and ethics? Doesn't this belief give you the impression that we can basically do anything we want and our out-of-the-jail card is that "I didn't decide to do this as there's no me and things just happen"?

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Well I dunno but my respons is that I dont think that this is a belief rather that it points to that which is beyond belief systems. You can only do what you understand, what is obvious to you. Maybe some people will get confused and use this excuse to continue old bad habits but that will in the long run not be what liberation is about, as it is. Where might one find this decider if such a decider exists? Where is the decider?

[dylanskriloff]

Insterstellar cosmic energy is happening, but he is missing out on all the fun by focusing on stupid material reality.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

What do you mean stupid reality? Interstellar cosmic reality is still stuck in the material reality, they are not separate. You are still physical aren't you? but a question might arise where you ever anything else than just physical? PCE is the destiny, interstellar cosmic reality is the only reality and it exists without any identification to whatever arises in it. The material plane is one of the many things which arises in IT.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

In my eye it is not at all stupid nor missing out on any fun on the contrary it is blissful fun to experience this.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

material reality? why is it stupid??

[SILENCE2BLISS]

All there is is Marmelade! :)

[dpmduran]

I am the ocean and the drop, I am the cleaner and the mop, I am the bell-boy and the bell, I am pussy and the well... I am the toaster and the toast, And though I do not like to boast— I am the saucer and the Source Of ALL THAT IS -- right NOW, of course... I hope I've made it very clear, That you're the one who isn't here. So when we meet along the way, Don't even try to say G'day!" ~ Ann Faraday

[gssev]

Reality is Oneness - Eternal- Out of this Oneness illusions of separation can arise like dreams. Oneness is always present Therefor your truth is always with you and can never be lost.

All beings will know their truth as everything changes in the dream but truth is the same and eventually the dream is surrendered for truth - that might be the only choice their is.

Oneness Is.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Everything

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Oh yes a childlike wonder, laughter and the divine dance

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Oh Yes, a chldlike wonder, laughter and the divine dance

[forgottencure]

All this advaita is crap, no one can understand it. Just turn around and live your life. Just forget it.

[ErnestResendes]

What they say is that there is no you to live your life. You are being lived is the no teaching. This is "my" understanding and it's very frustrating to the mind as your post suggests.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

but there is no fish and there is no net for all was empty to begin with, no mirror, no practice, no you

[zencat]

Haldor it generally takes years of committed practice to realize the truth. If you 'get it' intellectually and it seems to make more sense than any other philosophy/religion, then just have the 'faith' to discipline yourself on the path of sustained practice and daily meditation. One day out of nowhere when u forget about trying to get something the fish will swim into the net on its own.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

but there is no fish and there is no net for all was empty to begin with, no mirror, no practice, no you

[tiggertager]

Zencat I practiced meditation for a long time. I always wondered though how could there be a path to THIS, how do you arrive at NOW? Then i saw that "I" had never done anything not to mind meditate. There is no path and no spiritual practice. There can be a subtle arrogance in many who meditate that they are somehow closer to something then the average Joe. This is an arrogance and an ignorance. Let go of everything you think you Know Zencat- you are already Home- there is NO THING to do.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

I agree tiggertager

[zencat]

Buddhist teachers I've encountered (in America anyway) never teach that there are seperate individuals trying to get something. Advaita and Buddhism are essentially the same teaching. The Buddha's teaching is grounded in non-duality. I don't see why it's necessary to condemn Buddhism.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

There is no Buddhism

[nwfreed]

I don't believe he's condemning it. He's just saying that he thinks that no one needs any label, any group to belong to, or anything else for enlightenment/freedom/liberati­on.  He states that getting "it" is so simple and so available. That there is no need to a progressive path or process. I get it intuitively, it resonates as truth, but where it gets hard is when the mind interferes and tries to make it understandable.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

well said.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

there is nothing to get...

[bone32man]

I am that you are that, and this is all there is...

[BuddhaAmnesia]

there is no 'you'

[IamThatyam]

I usually like what you have to say Buddamnesia and we have the same teachers but this "there is no you" does not work for me.

The 'you' which 'is' is Am. This point is important beyond mere semantics.

[DivineNatureAwakens]

Well, you have what works for you and yes we have the same teacher the One

[raggatata]

it resonates and thats all there is, no words ..just this..

[nizigar]

beautiful!...this is oneness speaking to oneness!...

[elholandes]

look at what I have found: Tony Parsons (who is a neo-advaitin teacher) says: "There is no such thing as an 'enlightened person'. No person has ever been 'enlightened'." (Ref. 47) Jean Klein is correct to the extent that he uses the word 'liberation'; Tony Parsons is wrong since he uses the word 'enlightened'.

[PiotrBdg]

"liberation" or "enlightenment" what does it change? if there is no one there to get enlightenment how can there be someone to get libetated?

[BuddhaAmnesia]

exactly, words just point.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

well we will never know.

[BuddhaAmnesia]

there is no right or wrong, the words are just sounds...

[charlesdavidhayes]

Tony speaks directly from Oneness to Oneness. If it is heard, the search ends in gales of laughter!

[Mokkor]

wtf?

[nizogar]

and yet they seem to be very happy to be hopeless!:-)

[vikon18]

he is so amazing..

[Mokkor]

Yeah, amazingly awful.

[adaminthenow]

the words feel so right

[nizogar]

is there the need for any kind of energetic shift??

[jesuisravi]

Watch it again.

[JUSTRELAXANENJOY]

...jep... - over and over again...;->

[nimbletortoise922]

no there is need but what happens happens.

[nimbletortoise922]

i mean there is no need but what happens happens