​​Radical Non Duality and The End of Seeking

I have not written anything since publishing my second book a year ago, but not long after publication I encountered a message that seems to have taken "my" apparent journey and leveled it. It's not a popular message and certainly not a message I would have chosen to resonate with, but there was apparently a readiness to hear it and "I" took the plunge into the deep end of uncompromising non-duality. 

The message, which has been called contemporary non-duality, radical non-duality, uncompromising non-duality, neo-advaita, etc., is an end of the road message, in that it gives the ​seeker nowhere to turn, no practices to do, nothing to strive for and no suggestion that anything should be any different than it already is. In a way it is a checkmate for the ​one who feels like they are on a journey.

Even though this is just a story, and completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, there is an impulse to share how "I" came to resonate with this radical non-duality message. I was an avid spiritual seeker for many years and spent the last several of them doing lots of self inquiry practices. It felt as if I was making progress on this journey toward Awakening. I was having Awakening experiences, insights, glimpses, etc. and I was generally at peace in daily life. 

Then, a conversation with a teacher I had been working with for a while, led to the recognition that the student teacher relationship was perpetuating the sense of separation it was intended to overcome. What seemed to be most instrumental in the readiness for the radical message, was the communication I received from a dear friend suggesting I wasn't dedicated enough to the practice and that I needed to up my game if I really wanted to wake up. That led to some frustration, confusion and a healthy dose of skepticism. At that point I stepped back from the spiritual community I had been deeply involved with and stopped trying to integrate practice into my daily life. I became a man without a country in a way.

It was around that time I decided to interview Anna Brown (https://www.wonderfullynothing.com/), who is the first person I heard delivering a version of this radical non-duality message. In my interview with Anna it sounded as if she had been through something similar and after she was "spit out" of her spiritual community, she discovered Tony Parsons (https://www.theopensecret.com/) and Jim Newman (http://www.simply-this.com/). It sounded as if these guys were instrumental in her path so I decided to check them out. 

I checked out Tony first and liked the message but did not quite resonate with him. Then, I checked out Jim and resonated so deeply I could not stop listening. Just listening to that message led to a deeper conceptual understanding of non-duality and also seemed to precipitate glimpses of what was being pointed to by the words​ (which is different than what spiritual teachers are pointing to)​. A new sense of aliveness and freedom seemed to emerge and the intense seeking energy relaxed.

Here are just a few phrases that seemed to strike a chord... (not necessarily direct quotes but what was heard)

This, what appears to be happening, is all there is...

Nothing needs to happen for this to be whole and complete...