All posts by Dr. Robin Starbuck

About Dr. Robin Starbuck

Professor of English 1973 M.A., New York University 1989 Ph.D., New York University Linguistics

There is no death

Death

“When someone we love dies, we get so busy mourning what died that we ignore what didn’t.”
~ Ram Dass

“Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.”
~ Mary Elizabeth Frye

“Death is nothing to be sad about, it is something to be celebrated with songs and dances. It is a moment of rejoicing. Death is only the death of the body. But you will go on living in the universal consciousness, forever and forever.”
~ Osho

“A culture that denies death inevitably becomes shallow and superficial, concerned only with the external form of things. When death is denied, life loses its depth.
Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to “die before you die” – and find that there is no death.
Nothing that was real ever died, only names, forms, and illusions.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“The real does not die, the unreal never lived.
In death only the body dies. Life does not, consciousness does not, reality does not. And the life is never so alive as after death.
In some cases death is the best cure. A life may be worse than death, which is rarely an unpleasent experience, whatever the appearances. Therefore, pity the living, never the dead.
With death the idea ‘I am this body’ dies. The witness does not.
People are afraid to die, because they do not know who they are and what death is. The moment you know your real being, you are afraid of nothing. Death gives freedom and power. The happiness of being absolutely free is beyond description.”
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

“The only reason why people have such a fear of death is they know nothing beyond the body.”
~ Sadhguru

“This form is just a costume for a while. But the one behind the costume is eternal. If you know this, you don’t worry about anything. When you discover yourself as awareness, the fear of death will not trouble you any longer.”
~ Mooji

“If you are afraid of death, be afraid. And then comes the hitherto unbelievable surprise: you don’t die because you were never born. You had just forgotten who you are.”
~ Alan Watts

“Death is only an experience through which you are meant to learn a great lesson: you cannot die.
The reality of your life cannot die for you are indestructible consciousness.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

“There is no birth, there is no death. There is no coming, there is no going. We only think there is.
When we know that birth and death are together always, we are no longer afraid of dying. What you call birth and death are only transformation.
When you lose a loved one, you suffer. But if you know how to look deeply, you have a chance to realize that his or her nature is truly the nature of no-birth, no-death. Pay attention to the world around you, to the leaves and the flowers, to the birds and the rain. If you can look deeply, you will recognize your beloved manifesting again and again in many forms. You will release your fear and pain and again embrace the joy of life.
No coming, no going, no after, no before, I hold you close, I release you to be free; I am in you and you are in me.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down.
And because I love this life, I know I shall love death as well.
Man is immortal; therefore he must die endlessly. For life is a creative idea; it can only find itself in changing forms.
In death the many become one; in life the one become many.”
~ Rabindranath Tagore

“If thought turns its attention away from the objects which it seems to know, turns its attention back on itself, it ceases to be thought and is revealed as pure Consciousness. This open, empty, dimensionless, objectless Awareness that we essentially are, is not limited by any of the thoughts, feelings, sensations or perceptions that appear within. It was present prior to the appearance of the body-mind, it is present during the appearance of the body-mind, and it remains present after the disappearance of the body-mind. That is not something we discover when we die. We can discover it any moment.
Nothing ever disappears. Only forms are constantly transformed.”
~ Rupert Spira

“Consciousness was pre-existent and will survive the body.
The body dies, but the spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death.
When a pot is broken, the space within is not. When the body dies, the Self in it remains eternal.
The dead are fortunate. It is only those who are left behind who feel miserable.
Discover your undying Self and be immortal and happy.”
~ Ramana Maharshi

“Nobody dies. There is no such thing as death. There is only eternal life, and you are that.
You are dreaming the mortal dream! If you’re aware that you’re dreaming, are you going to react to anything? Will you react to situations if you know that you’re dreaming? Of course not. You’ll laugh! You’ll see a war going on and you’ll get in the middle of the battlefield and you’ll say, “What are you doing? This is all a dream! Throw your guns away. You’re wasting your time! Nobody dies, nobody is killed, nobody is born. It’s all a dream.” And they’ll probably shoot you for saying that! Makes no difference if they shoot you! You’re aware that you’re dreaming, so you’re the witness of you being shot, and you keep laughing. And then you wake up.”
~ Robert Adams

Enlightenment various

Enlightenment

“I think you’re all enlightened, until you open your mouths.”
~ Shunryu Suzuki

“Our self – luminous, open, empty Awareness – cannot be enlightened. It is already the light that illuminates all experience. Nor can a separate self be enlightened, for when the separate self faces the light of Awareness, it vanishes, just as a shadow does when exposed to the sun.
To be enlightened means to know oneself as Awareness and to know that this Awareness is ever-present and without limit or location.”
~ Rupert Spira

“Being enlightened ironically means realizing that there is no separate entity that can be enlightened or unenlightened.
Looking forward to what you think enlightenment might be at some grand point in the future keeps you from seeing the truth of its presence right now.
We are all born to fly. Instead, we sit on the branches afraid of the leap into the unknown. But the unknown is where enlightenment lives.”
~ Enza Vita

“Enlightenment means waking up to what you truly are: pure being.
Spiritual awakening is a remembering. It is not about transforming ourselves. It is not about changing ourselves. It is a remembering of what we are. At the moment of this remembering, if it is authentic, it’s not viewed as a personal thing. There is really no such thing as a “personal” awakening, because “personal” would imply separation. “Personal” would imply that it is the “me” or the ego that awakens or becomes enlightened. But in a true awakening, it is universal spirit or universal consciousness that wakes up to itself. Rather than the “me” waking up, what we are wakes up from the “me”.
Enlightenment is, in the end, nothing more than the ●natural state of consciousness.”
~ Adyashanti

“The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply ●your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“Anybody who tells you that he has some way of leading you to spiritual enlightenment is like somebody who picks your pocket and sells you your own watch.”
~ Alan Watts

“What did you think about this morning as soon as you opened your eyes? Were you worried about breakfast? Were you concerned with getting too fat or too thin? Were you concerned over your hair or over another person? Were you thinking about your neighbors trying to hurt you? Or someone cheated you? Or somebody stole something from you ten years ago, you can’t get it out of your mind? What do you think about all day long? ●This is what keeps you from enlightenment.”
~ Robert Adams

“The difference between knowledge and enlightenment is that in the ●former a contrast exists between the knower and the known, whereas in the latter there is no such contrast.”
~ Bruce Lee

“Look where there is ●no difference between the known and the knower, where there is no difference between Self and other, where all differences have ceased to exist. Here you will find enlightenment.”
~ Wu Hsin

“The enlightened being ●sees everything in the world as his own Self.”
~ Shankara

“Enlightenment is ●intimacy with all things.”
~ Dogen Zenji

“Enlightenment is the destruction of the sense of duality, which is a barrier to true love. ●Once individuality is surrendered, there is only total love.”
~ Ramesh Balsekar

“There is only one calamity: ignorance. And there is only one solution: enlightenment.”
~ Sadhguru

“Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.”
~ Nikola Tesla

Rupert’s writing -RSpira

Rupert Spira

Rupert Spira

Contemplating the Nature of Experience

Love is the dissolution of the ‘I’ that loves and the ‘other’ that is loved. It is the collapse of relatedness and the dawn of intimacy.

How can I reconcile the absolute and relative points of view?

Would you say that there is definitely no Rupert or Jérôme?

Hi Rupert,

I have a short question for you…how do you conciliate the absolute point of view with the relative one? I mean, does the knowledge that there is no world except visual perceptions or no body except sensations, feelings etc, exclude the possibility of Libya or France, or exclude the possibility of a headache or a cancer (and consider them instead) as purely conceptual? But if I say there is no world, I suggest at the same time that there is a world, if I say there is no Rupert, I suggest that there is a Rupert! My question is: do the the two perspective meet each other or would you say that there is definitely no Rupert or Jérôme?

Thank you for your answer!

Jérôme, sorry, no Jérôme!

Dear Jérôme,

I would not try to reconcile the absolute and relative points of view, for the simple reason that there is no such thing as an absolute point of view. Nor, in fact, is there any such thing as a relative point of view except from the imaginary position of a relative point of view. In other words, the relative is in the view; it doesn’t have a view!

The ●Absolute is absolute precisely because it doesn’t have a point of view. That is, it doesn’t view things, objects, events etc. from a point or a place. In fact, things are only things, objects are only objects, events are only events, headaches are only headaches, Rupert is only Rupert and Jérôme is only Jérôme from the limited point of view of an imaginary centre of perception, otherwise know as the separate self.

And this, of course, includes the separate self! In other words, the separate self is only a separate self from the imaginary point of view of the separate self! The Absolute, which is just another name for the true and only Self, knows nothing of such apparent things.

●You, the Absolute, doesn’t see things, places, people, events etc., as such, because all these – that is, outside objects – are only seen as such from the point of view of an imaginary inside self.

The Absolute is so utterly, intimately one with all these apparent things that it cannot separate itself out from them and know them as ‘something.’ It is so utterly intimate with experience that it cannot know it as something other than itself. That is why ‘I,’ the Absolute, pure intimacy and experience are all synonymous and, ultimately, un-nameable. ‘Love’ is perhaps as close as words come because in love there is not the slightest trace of otherness or separation.

In other words, for the Absolute, which means for your Self, there are no things there in the first place to be utterly intimate with. There are simply ‘not two things’ – a-dvaita.

However, as soon as we try to name what that is, we are back in the world of duality where something is ‘one’ as opposed to ‘two,’ ‘something’ as opposed to ‘nothing,’ ‘being’ as opposed to ‘not being’ etc. In other words, without the idea of ‘two,’ the idea of ‘one’ cannot stand. No ‘two,’ no ‘one.’

That is why the ancients, in their wisdom and humility, called this Non-Duality rather than Oneness. To say it is ‘not-two’ is more correct than saying it is ‘one,’ although both statements are, ultimately, untrue.

It other words, things, events, objects, France, Libya, headaches, cancer, Rupert and Jérôme etc. are all for the imaginary point of view of the separate entity. In fact, that’s precisely what the separate entity is – a point of view.

For the Absolute or the Self, there is just itself. It is only thought that superimposes selves, objects, people, places etc. onto the raw, intimate, un-nameable, ever-present reality of pure Being.

So back to your questions now: “Do the the two perspective meet each other?” If you insist that there are two things, one, reality and, two, illusion, then the best we can say is that Awareness is all that they share – Awareness is where they meet. It is all they have in common. But that answer is a concession to the belief that there really is a real illusion. Once it is seen that illusion is an illusion, the question no longer makes sense. Only reality remains….this very experience here and now, shining with the light of your own presence alone.

And two, “Would you say that there is definitely no Rupert or Jérôme?” There is no Rupert or Jérôme as they are normally conceived to be, that is, as bodies and minds that have their own reality, independent of Awareness. Such a reality is non-existent. It exists only as the thought that thinks it.

However, there is a reality to every thought, sensation and perception (including those that are normally considered to be ‘Rupert’ or ‘Jérôme’) and that is your Self. In other words, if ‘Rupert’ and ‘Jérôme’ are the names we give to our Self, Awareness, then they refer to that which is real. If they refer to a body and mind that is considered to have its own independent reality, they refer to an illusion.

In fact, the same could be said of all names and nouns: if they refer to objects, people, places and events, they refer, as such, to an illusion. However, if they refer to the reality of the apparent objects, people, places and events, then each of these words is itself one of the many names of the Absolute and, as such, points towards the ever-present reality of all experience, otherwise known as your Self – Jérôme!

With love,

Rupert

You are sat-chit-ananda [existence-consciousness-bliss] -RAdams

Adams, Robert

[Once you awaken], what you call your body will take care of itself. It knows what to do and how to do it. As a matter of fact, if you get yourself out of the way the body will achieve much more freedom, much more happiness then you can ever have while you’re thinking. Do not concern yourself with the body. Leave the body alone.

It’s hard to understand how you can leave the body alone and it will take of itself. All these years you think you’ve been taking care of it. But look at nature. Look at the leaves on the tree, grass, the food that grows; there is a power that takes care of everything in this universe.

The same power that takes care of everything takes care of what you call your body. It will lead you to the right path. It will guide you to the right place you’re supposed to be. It takes care of you. But this only happens when you surrender your body, your ego, everything to the Self. The way you surrender is by not reacting to life. Not reacting to person, place or thing.

When you stop reacting, that is surrender. And the power that knows the way will take care of your body. But you are not your body. You have absolutely nothing to do with your body. You are that consciousness, that joy, that happiness, that peace, that bliss. This is your real nature. You are sat-chit-ananda [existence-consciousness-bliss], Brahman, the absolute reality, this is you.

Robert Adams

Breaking up and out -rjs

Robin Starbuck

BREAKING UP AND OUT !!

Learning to trust that one’s teacher is within oneself brings huge rewards. It implies wherever you are – in any circumstance – you have the best guide, friend and lover ever with you.

Should I read this? watch that? come here? go there? All needed answers tend to arrive before the question is fully formed!

We need to go way, way beyond the fetters of crippling religiosity and our own omnipotent friend is showing us just how to do it: how to let go, surrender, and move on fearlessly. There’s so much more wisdom to awaken to once we’re really willing to break free!

DrRobinStarbuck

mind ceases its restless movements – Gita

Bhadavad Gita

“The light of a lamp does not flicker in a windless place: that is the simile which describes a yogi of one-pointed mind, who meditates upon the Atman. When, through the practice of yoga, the mind ceases its restless movements, and becomes still, he realizes the Atman. It satisfies him entirely. Then he knows that infinite happiness which can be realized by the purified heart but is beyond the grasp of the senses.”

~ Bhagavad Gita