Spiritual Questions Of Insights

Question:  Can you explain more on why it is important not to have conclusions about yourself?

Adonis:  Then let us go into it thoroughly so that you may understand the importance of having no conclusions at all about yourself.  'I am not a jealous person.'  That is a conclusion.  Now upon observing oneself, ones’ actions, thoughts, and feelings we may discover otherwise.  What is important is to actually see and feel what I actually am, not what I wish, think or believe I am.  Non-jealousy may be a delusion.  In actuality, I may be a very jealous hearted human being and so I want to find out what is true. In order to do that I must observe myself in everyday life.  How I interact with others, how I actually feel and think.  So understanding oneself is a movement of knowing, which requires aliveness and not the accumulation of knowledge which is a dead thing.  Do not agree, do not disagree, simply observe the facts of your life from moment to moment.

Question:  I am always concerned mainly with how to begin such an inquiry into spirituality.  What do you say about the starting point of the Sayings?

Adonis:  You posited a very interesting question about how to begin speaking with others about spirituality.  I tend to say, start from the beginning.  So, I would say, start from a common point in which we all can relate such as with thought because we all think.  We all may not know how to think but the fact is we all think.  I would go into what is thought, how does it come into being, what is its movement and how does it end.  Thought comes from the storage house of memory and association.  The thinker is made from the fabric of thought.  The thinker is of the past, it is a dead entity.  Being dead, it prevents the clarity of seeing life in the moment, as is.

Thought comes into being out of ignorance, the failure of direct perception.  As long as the mind is trapped in thought and restlessness, it cannot see.  To end thought, which is the cause of all our sorrow, you simply eradicate its cause. 

Ignorance is born of inattentiveness, so I simply pay attention to my thoughts, feelings, fears and desires, which through the wholeness of perception all thoughts vanquish.  Then when the mind is completely still and quiet, there is nothing.  In this nothingness, all is.  In this, there is the totality of perception devoid of a perceiver.  Within this quintessence, you discover the secret of the Christ, the Buddha and all enlightened Beings. You will actually see for yourself that all life is one.  You will see that you are not just some entity in life, you are life beyond death!   So death, where is your sting?

Question:  You are deep, very deep.  Everything said so far is so well said.  May I ask you; is awareness another word for perception?

Adonis:  Two different words pointing to the same essence.

Question:  I like how you said the other day that, 'Thought reacts after the fact, but  perception, instantaneously.'  I like to know more about that.  It is very interesting.

Adonis: Because thought can never instantaneously act on anything. Thought is reaction.  Thought is of the past and therefore time.  So you must ask; how can it act in the moment, in the instant?  The thinker first thinks about everything and then acts.  This fact, is unseen by the self.  The self is of time; it is blind to reality and the clarity of the pristine moment.  To be spiritual is to function in life, effortlessly, spontaneously.   

Question:  With the power of silence do we dissolve this thing called 'self?'

Adonis:  You must free yourself and see the truth of it.  Do not depend on what another says or what I say.  You must learn to think for yourself and discover what is factual and not follow another.  It is for you to understand the dissolution of the self that takes place when the mind is perfectly still and completely silent.

Question:  As long as we are conscious, perception is subdued, correct?

Adonis: As long as you are consciously there, perception is not.  There is no perception, because 'you,' the conscious self is there, clouding reality.  The totality of perception is impeded because the self stands in the way, partially looking.  To understand this is very simple.  Out of ignorance, we live in the clouds of darkness, totally oblivious to the radiance of perception.

Question:  When you say, 'use thought when necessary.'  Do you mean the 'self?'

Adonis:  The self is the crystallization of thought and division.  It is the thinker, the ego, the I, and the me and mine, the whole business of identifying.  What I mean is to use thought without the organization of thought becoming centralized as this thinker.  Just thought, devoid of a thinker.  Now when the self is not, then there is intelligence.  Do you see this?  Am I making myself clear?  It is to live ones life in wholeness, which is direct perception. 

Now, when you are at work, you must use a certain level of thought in order to do your day-to-day tasks, which we are not denying.  However, the moment you inquire of seeing the essence of life, like the beauty of a sunrise, why should thought come into the scene.  Out of habit and routine, thought keeps running endlessly, preventing the clarity of perception.  It is interfering in ones’ whole life when it is not needed in certain instances.

Question:  I like how you express yourself when you said, 'It is to live ones life in wholeness, which is direct perception. ' – very well said.

Adonis:  It is to live in paradise!  The problem lies in our consciousness of how we SEE life.  There are two of us living here in this household, the one life in paradise here on earth, the other lives in doom, gloom, and great sorrow.  Why is that?  Surely, the answer must be in our perception.

All of the religions, philosophies and sciences have missed this fact.  Like in the bible, one of the benedictions says, 'blessed are the pure of heart for they shall SEE God.'  Pure of heart meaning, ones consciousness empty, devoid of self, innocent.  Not theoretically, but actually.  When you are completely empty, vacant within, that glory beyond all things enters ones being.  To see this, is the fulfillment of all life.

Question:  Through quietude, is that how we dominate this self, the thinker?

Adonis:  Why do you say dominate?  To dominate, to control are aspects that belongs to the self and its desire to conquer, to acquire and to gain a reward.  Please understand that there is nothing for you to gain or become.  What I am saying is that the self is out of it all together.  In quietude, in silence there is freedom, there is no controlling, no tyranny.  It is because we do not understand ourselves, our actions are distorted.  Our beliefs betray our actions and our actions betray our beliefs.  We are trapped in a vicious circle of self-deception.  

Question:  Are you saying that once we begin to dissolve this self then we are able to achieve clarity?

Adonis:  The self just ends, not gradually, instantaneously.  What is there to debate about?  No gradual process is needed; it simply ends when it realizes its own absurdity and obscurity.  The clarity of perception is just there, when you are not.  When you are completely not there.  Not a little or a lot.  There is total negation and that is all.

Question:  What do you mean when you say, 'It is to live in the not knowing' in the 'not knowing,' all is.  Would you be so kind to explain this to me?

Adonis:  The not knowing is the doorway into the unknown.  The self being of the known, has no liaison, no relationship with the unknown.  It cannot enter the realm of the unknown.  There is the totality when the division of the knower, knowledge and the known, are not.  The moment I realize, 'I do not know,' then I am finished seeking.  Surely, my pursuit to discover the truth is arrested when I fully see, 'I do not know.'  Then I am no longer looking in the field of the known.  So all searching by the self to look and seek out the truth comes to an end point blank.

Now let me illustrate.  If I were to ask you, 'What is God?'  The only correct answer the self can truly respond, 'I do not know.'  The moment I see clearly that I do not know, all looking in the known is capitulated and eliminated. All we are saying is that you must come to a full stop within consciousness. The self cannot look outside of the known, so it must stop, be quiet and be perfectly still.  In the realization, 'I do not know,' all seeking of the unknown comes to a halt and then without warning, silence comes.  Not the idea of silence but the fact.  In this silence, all is.  For there is nothing excluded.

SPIRITUAL SAYINGS OF ADONIS ALEXANDER

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