Unmani - Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview

Also see http://batgap.com/unmani/
Unmani is originally from the UK, but has lived a nomadic life in many countries around the world from the age of 18. She has had no 'home base' for years, and travels around the world holding meetings and retreats relying on the generosity of people who have been touched by her message. Amazing people in so many countries have helped, supported and hosted Unmani over the years. She lives in gratitude to those who are willing to open their homes and their hearts to freedom.
Unlike most people, since she was a child, Unmani never identified with the role she seemed to be playing as a person living a life. However, she felt very lost and alone in a world that everyone else seemed to take so seriously. After years of searching to find a way out of this pain, she met a German Zen master in India. With her, Unmani recognized that what she had been searching for had always been right here. She woke up to the dream, time stopped and the search ended. Unmani began holding meetings and retreats 3 years later. Unmani is the author of two books 'I am Life itself' and 'Die to Love' and is now writing a third book.
Interview recorded 10/11/2011

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[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Dude, I get that. I’ve been meditating hours a day for 43 years and am well aware that we’re talking about something which is lived on the level of the soul, not mere thinking.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

I think maybe we could classify people like this:

• People who have had some intellectual or intuitive clarity of non-duality, and who conclude that they’re as realized as anyone ever has been.

• People who have had a genuine, preliminary awakening which they mistake as final. Jeff Foster, for example, acknowledged having gone through both of these stages.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

• People who well-grounded in That which does not change, but who realize and readily admit that there is no end to the deepening, clarification, refinement, etc. Adyashanti, Gangaji, Mooji, and others have expressed this perspective.

Judging from the tone of your comment, I suspect you would fit in the first category, maybe the second.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

We probably haven't defined our terminology here, but explain to me how consciousness can be a living reality without a universe. Who or what is living it, and through what mechanism?

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

Of course, one could say that consciousness contains within it all qualities. The Urban Guru Cafe has the motto "there is no duality in non-duality". Ultimately, that may be true, but if we acknowledge that there is a manifest universe, or an apparent one, then there's your duality. And since non-duality cannot, by definition, have limits, it must "contain" all duality - all qualities. Infinite dynamism within infinite silence.

[BuddhaAtTheGasPump]

As I understand it, consciousness without a mechanism through which it can be lived is a flat, qualityless field. The universe came into being in order for mechanisms to evolve through which consciousness could become a living reality.

[shodashi108]

How much "knowing" do we need about the nature of consciousness? Why do we seek that which is not here? Are we not, according to all laws of common sense, responsible to use this life to create practical solutions for the abuse that is so rampant? What's the point of "spirituality" if not to find a solution so that 21,000 children do not die every day from starvation? Spirituality is a religion of self and it keeps us enthralled with ascension etc. instead of what is best for all.

[pianodesu]

 (0:02:09 -0:02:41) But she can rap instead! Yo yo!

[sbaker3232]

Unmani is cool

[nowbellhere]

Rick, You do awesome interviews. You challenge these spiritual teachers in some very meaningful ways. You do a great job of laying out these tricky issues on the table and examining them with these teachers. Very relevant questions!! These interviews are great also because you don't let the teachers get away with elusive terminology. You challenge their use of terms in very relevant ways. Keep up the great work!

[nowbellhere]

What I lovely open vastness within this woman. Wow she arrived at a place that trascends any mental anchors. Such an open energy and very real.

[locate777]

Dude! you talk to all these gurus and you still don't get it !

your life that you think you have is not real and in truth it will never be real.

You cant use your brain like your doing to get it! its a knowing from the soul not the brain or thinking with it..lol!

[luminoushedgehog]

@BuddhaAtTheGasPump Only realization answers how consciousness can be a living reality without a universe or mechanism. The manifest universe does not mean that there is duality as an ontological fact, only as a temporary perception and experience. I would recommend interviewing David Hoffmeister, by the way.