The Advaita Show #46 – Nirvana St

This. Will. Blow. Your. Mind.
March 19, 2008
Cam in France
July 4, 2008
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The Advaita Show #46 – Nirvana St

Hey Hey Hey kids and kittens! It’s your favourite enlightened masters back to tell y’all how we got to be so insanely smart and good looking. You can look like us too! All you need to do is send $499 to our paypal account and we’ll send you our new DVD “The Secret To Being Insanely Smart and Good Looking Through Funky Enlightenment (TM)”.

Yeah we ain’t dead (as some would have you believe). We were just resting. Like the parrot with beautiful plumage.

Steve and I caught up for the first time in 7 months today to chat about his book, Bob’s 80th, Einstein, James Brown, and my Church of LOTU.

Just for shits ‘n’ giggles.

Links from the show:

Einstein’s letter about God

And here is the hardest working guru in the business:

60 Comments

  1. Mike in SF says:

    Yeeeeeah, that was a great show guys, one of the best in a long time. Definitely looking forward to Steve’s book. “Alone but not lonely” Very cool.

    I really liked Cam’s point about the big bang and free will. I wrote the following a while back just for fun. Not sure if it will all fit in this space but it’s pretty much what Cam was saying!

    The Big Bang is what the scientists say started everything. Somehow an explosion happened and matter exploded outward from a single point. And matter has been expanding ever since, creating the universe. It makes as much sense as anything. That means that everything that has happened to matter since the Big Bang is the natural result of that explosion and expansion. That includes all the stuff that happens here on Earth. So logically speaking, life forming and the evolution that has followed is nothing but the dust settling from the Big Bang. And it’s still settling. Even me typing these words, and you reading them, is the dust settling from the Big Bang. Any thoughts you might be having right now are part of this dust settling. This is all logical right? You may believe the thoughts are coming from a “little me” inside your head, but they’re actually just happening as a result of all that energy released by the Big Bang. That means that your thoughts are non-personal. They don’t belong to anyone. Your brain doesn’t belong to anyone either. If anything, your brain belongs to the universe, and when you have thoughts, it’s actually the universe having thoughts, not that “little me” that appears to exist in your head. If you don’t believe this, try to locate the “little me” that is producing these thoughts. Let me know if you find it!

    So anyway, if you believe in the Big Bang, then it follows that you must agree that free will is an illusion. Why? Because everything that happens is a mere unfolding of that initial explosion. Have you ever been bowling? When the ball leaves your hand, the number of pins that will be knocked down has already been determined. Nobody may know how many will fall, but it’s been determined by the way you rolled the ball. The ball leaving your hand could be compared to the Big Bang and the pins falling is everything that happens afterwards.

    The amazing thing about all this is the fact that the dust from the big bang is settling in such an intricate way, a way that has produced the ability of the universe to be aware of itself, through the consciousness of a human being. And the fact that the human being feels so certain of his/her own seperate free will, when really their will is not seperate from the greater process happening, the expansion and unfoldment of the universe!

  2. zafire says:

    There never was a big bang there never will be THIS IS THE BIG BANG

  3. Cameron Reilly says:

    Mike in SF – beautifully written! Where did you write that? do you have a blog?

  4. Richard says:

    Great show guys. It flew by.

    Has Cameron come into maturity?

    “When Bill Clinton speaks I hear the banjos of ‘Deliverance’ ”

    Thanks for coming out of your meditation caves to amuse, amaze, and enlighten.

    BTW, if the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

  5. Mike in SF says:

    Thanks Cam! No, I don’t have a blog. I just wrote it for fun, and to put words to the insight. Good thing you have this comment section so I could share. I just joined LOTU’s friend on facebook. Here’s a link to LOTU’s website for people who are curious about your new religion. Hope you don’t mind me posting it: http://www.thelotu.com/

  6. Steven Witt says:

    For that matter — a wee joke already — what did it “Bang” into or go “Bang” in?

    Zafire, Richard, both spot on and I was once a science writer!

    As for any comments, hey, it’s all in good fun and I know Slick Willy can handle it. I’m simply sayiing, all so-called eras end but the Clintons just have no clue how to end theirs gracefully.

    Bottom line: nothing is, nothing happened and there “you” are — all alone, not two and not a skosh lonely.

    And for God’s sake, DO NOT go figure!

    It was nice to be back and to laugh with my good mate. He is much fun to be present with.

    love

  7. mandy says:

    a reminder cameron, if ‘your’ podcasts had not been the map to ‘Bobs’ beyond, perhaps the destination would never have been always nowhere.
    so you dug a whole all the way to china and camerons light shone on the other side

  8. Cameron Reilly says:

    Thanks Mandy. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but thanks anyway. 🙂

  9. Mark says:

    Great to have you back, fellas. Hope you’ll make it more frequent – I like the fun.

  10. Graeme says:

    Fantastic to hear you two back in the saddle. I’d given up all hope. Love the Brown / Pavarotti thing up above too.

  11. Corey Vance says:

    Thanks for another show yall!

  12. Zac says:

    Trashing Clintons and revering Obama? You’re under the banner of Advaita and nondualism and you’re talking about your politicial prefrences. . . . . . backing one and ridiculing another. . . Obviously you’re serious about your spritiual pursuits. . . Advaita my ass. . what a farce.

  13. Cameron says:

    Zac, where would this pursuit we’re supposed to be on lead us? Back to where we are? What a farce indeed! And I agree with you…. Advaita *is* your ass!!

  14. Steven Witt says:

    Apparently there is something that “real Adviatans” should do, not do, be and not be, say and not say…..do tell Zac exactly what it is that we have all missed?

    and do tell when you reach that Adviatan perfection that awaits….

    love

  15. Max says:

    Zac, the whole idea of ‘spiritual pursuits’ is implying that there are unspiritual pursuits. Where do you get off saying that? And why should anyone be serious? What is the opposite of serious? I think someone needs to play with a My Little Pony doll.

  16. Zac says:

    Yeah, it was a dickhead post. Probably not my last.. .

  17. Steven Witt says:

    Zac, there was a posting, but no (dickhead) poster thereof.

    These sound silly, untill you see that they are always true, then they still sound silly, but at least ring a bell.

    Would happily have a conversation — no politics;) — off line with you Zac.

    love

    Adviatans all, i need a good graphics type to put fine finishing touches on what is shaping as a most fun book. Can anyone help?

  18. kris says:

    Actually, isn’t the ideal typeface for a book on advaita a white font on a white background?

    ha ha

    love and luck
    kris

  19. Zac says:

    Steven, politics isn’t the problem.
    My inital post was just a bad reaction I had after listening to the podcast. I was just trying to make myself feel better and cover my discomfort by having shot at you guys. I’m not always comfortable with the idea that ‘I’m not real’ and I’ll do anything to avoid really looking at it. . . which mostly consists of trying to making my oinadequacies the fault of others.

    Having blurted that hideous little confession. . . I’d love to chat.
    I can be reached at; [email protected]

  20. Steven Witt says:

    Kris, a good chuckle indeed…you are right: white on white or black on black, it’s all the same.

    The only ‘why do it’ worth mentioning is, as Alan Watts said, “because I enjoy writing and speaking about this.” Indeed, Watts’s title of his “autobiography” — imagine that in non-duality, an autobiography! — was perfect: “In My Own Way.” He was both thumping his own chest and mostly noting that the fictitious “wes” are what’s in our own way to enjoying the pure consciousness of being!

    It’s funny, while i have no burning desire to write about my “Life”, some friends, one of whom publishes such pieces, have suggested that i do, as i have had some, well, unbelievable experiences along the way to being turned back on myself. And the coolest thing about this journey into the unknown is that it just keeps getting cooler and cooler and, well, and maybe worth reading for the heck of it..

    stay tuned, first book first.

    much love

  21. vira says:

    Steve, you are such a tease! How long have you been “working” on this book? Is this a real book or is this no book, as Kris suggested, going to be simply “white on white”–a book filled with blank pages? Sailor Bob does not talk about writing books, he just writes them!

    If you are having a difficult time it may be that you have unintentionally lapsed into a state of “mind f u__ing”–thinking too much about it. Remember, the source of all misconception is the mind. Dwell on anything and you are dwelling on no thing! Just write and don’t let the intellect prevent you from seeing.

  22. Richard says:

    If James Brown was the hardest working man in showbusiness, who was the 2nd hardest working man in showbusiness? And where was I when the vote was taken?

  23. Cameron says:

    The Godfather Of Funk don’t need no stinkin’ vote. He was BORN the hardest working man in show business and he died the hardest working man in show business and he’s STILL the hardest working man in show business – on youtube.

  24. Mark says:

    Didn’t James Brown believe in God?

  25. Cameron Reilly says:

    Mark – every time he looked in the mirror, yeah. 🙂

  26. Mark says:

    Ha! And wasn’t he the Godfather of Soul?

    I was reading an interview with Rev. Al Green. Most of these “soul” men believe in God, and as much as I love Advaita, I sure as hell ain’t gonna tell them it ain’t true!

  27. daniel says:

    If the lawyers get ahold of this no free will thing we’re all screwed!!! Nice show, you guys still have it.

  28. Stan says:

    After a number of years with Advaita, I’ve taken to approaching this whole self-is-an-illusion and free will business from a skeptical, more scientific evidence-based viewpoint, and it’s proving very fruitful and exciting.

    Like Cam I’m a fan of Susan Blackmore, and I heartily recommened two of her books: “The Meme Machine”, which includes an excellent discussion of what she calls the selfplex, that cluster of memes we have that make us think we have a self separate from our body; and “Consciousness: An Introduction”, which among a lot of other things clarifies the dualistic mind-is-separate-from-the-body confusion we inherited from Descarte.

    Aalso, there’s a very good video of a short lecture she gave recently about memes and temes (technological memes) on the TED website at:

    http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/269

    For a good debunking of free will, check out this terrific article by Robert Gulack (he’s a lawyer, Daniel), which removed my remaining doubts about free will:

    http://www.ethicalfocus.org/index.php?mpage=34/Free_Will.htm

    When I say “remaining doubts” I mean that I’m 95 percent certain it’s true, but I’m still open to fresh evidence that proves I’m wrong, at which point I’ll ditch the old belief and work out a new one that fits the facts more closely. Fundamentalists are always 100 percent sure of whatever woo woo they believe, and look at the damage they’ve done over the centuries.

    Stan

  29. brando says:

    an advaita joke.

    for those of you understanding the nature of nondual reality, i would like to share:

    my name on my passport is: i am that (the totality of everything)

    my name on my id-card is: who is reading this?
    so the people on airports or police seeig my id card will inquire into their non-existence.

    love, brando

  30. Mike Smith says:

    Good Show Cam and Steve!

    I love the simple talk about non-duality and the great references to books, and other material. I guess if there is any search left in me its a search or discovering new ways to describe the ride…or hearing the ways others describe it.

    what about music are there any non-duality bands you come across? I know Coldplay has some cool stuff, I was also noticing a song Called “Perpetual Change” by Yes that points pretty well to Being.

    I play in a band that butchers pop artists like Brittney Spears and others… there is no wrong or right just notes so lets let them appear….

    Peace… pretending to be Mike

  31. Cameron Reilly says:

    Mike, I don’t go looking for non-duality in my music, but I know Van Morrison had a period in the early 80s when was on an enlightenment bent and that turned up in his lyrics a bit. And people used to tell me that Kitaro’s instrumental music had mysterious qualities that could help one realize one’s oneness.

  32. Graeme says:

    Non duality in music? Crops up where you’re not looking for it. I’ve got an album by Joseph Arthur called “Our Shadows Will Remain”. Really good album IMO. It’s fairly conventional alt-rock singer songwriter fare for the most part, but there’s one song called “I Am”. Lyrics are pretty much straight down the line advaita lingo bingo:

    http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/I-am-lyrics-Joseph-Arthur/3D1D8950FAA584E548256F340011992C

  33. Cameron Reilly says:

    Actually, it’s not very well known, but the original version of James Brown’s “I Feel Good”, ran “I AM Feels Good, Like I knew that it would”, but people didn’t get it, so he went for the more direct approach. 🙂

  34. tom says:

    Hi,

    Say, can you do another podcast about the color of parabrahman? ’cause u said it was white, but that’s not really ONE color isn’t it, So wich is the One? Me reckons it’s blue?
    Like the water Bob talks about. Of course u cannot put it in a bucket because it’s the Absolute. Am I on the right track?

    greetings,
    tom

  35. Mike in SF says:

    I just discovered this new advaita site with interviews. Maybe somebody already posted it here but I must have missed it: http://urbangurucafe.com/wordpress/index.php

  36. Corey Vance says:

    Hey Mike Smith, I’ve been noticing some references in music lately myself. Deathcab For Cutie has some interesting mentions on their album “Plans” and Bright Eyes, has a few good ones on the album “I’m wide awake, it’s morning.”

    From Bright Eyes – “I’m happy just because, I found out I am really no one!”

    I highly recommend both, the Bright Eyes album is amazing.

    corey

  37. Mike Smith says:

    Corey – thanks
    I will check out that band. Like Cam said I guess I too am not always looking for nonduality lyrics, but it is nice when suddenly they pop up.
    I think it was Alan Watts that said all Classical music is nonduality, because there are no lyrics just notes and emotion and energies. Jazz can be added to that as well as many other instrumentals.
    I just like to listen to great musicians who perhaps know IT, and then how they put THAT into music and words to express what i feel is impossible to bookmark.

    Then there are also songs that we may have heard as children or years ago that just stop the mind for a moment and point so strongly to who we are. One song in particular is Imagine by Lennon. To me that was very strong. U2 has done the same in some cases.

    But beyond all this all music is nondual also because it is space and energy. Hollow notes appearing

    Mike

  38. Graeme says:

    Agree with Corey re Bright Eyes. “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning” is possibly my favourite album of the last five years.

  39. Sándor Weöres:
    SELF-PORTRAIT

    My friend, you who claim to know me,
    look round my room: nothing of its decoration
    was my own choosing; open my wardrobe:
    it has nothing to show you that is specially me.
    My lover and my dog know how I caress them,
    but I remain unknown to them. My old instrument
    is well aware of my hand’s contours;
    it too cannot sing about me.

    Yet I am not in hiding – simply, I do not exist.
    I act, I suffer, as all men do,
    but my essential core is non-existence itself.

    My friend, you must not regard me as having secrets.
    I am as transparent as glass – how then
    do you imagine you can really see me?

  40. vira says:

    The seeker is the sought, the catcher is the caught.
    No thing and every thing all for nought.
    Shed no tears, there are no years.
    You will not be missed, you do not exist.
    The universe does not care.
    There is no who, why, or where.

    — Adi Sankara (sanskrit translation)

  41. daniel says:

    the lawn mows itself, i watch as i walk behind the mower, Consciousness displays all.
    who is the I? Thing or nothing. Is this relavent? Excuse me while I go take an appearance shit ,allthough the smell may be more real than the verbage on this site 🙂 I’m just kidding
    there are no fools here?

  42. vira says:

    daniel, very funny! I suggest you listen and learn from the “Cavemen tenorS”–though “romanCe” seems to get it a little more than “eventS”.

    Ciao!

  43. daniel says:

    hey cameron are you the juice or the squeeze ?

  44. daniel says:

    vira say what?

  45. vira says:

    Cavemen tenorS
    Camveen tenorS
    Cameven tenorS
    Camerve ntenoS
    Camerov entenS
    Cameron vetenS
    Cameron Sveten
    Cameron Stveen
    Cameron Steven

  46. mark says:

    Daniel:

    If it still smells it means you’re not realised yet !!!

  47. mark says:

    Hi Cameron,

    Is it true that you will be soon broadcasting a podcast together with TOM CRUISE about the church of LOTU?

    He has some great pointers on youtube !!
    http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=UFBZ_uAbxS0

    Great !!
    I am looking forward to this
    Ciao,
    Mark

  48. Ed says:

    It seems to me the best way to reach the majority of people with non-duality is the bait and switch technique that Eckhart Tolle uses. He and Oprah were incredibly successful with their webcasts.

    I think what he does is couch non duality as self help books and then slips the non duality in. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

    Great to hear you guys again.

  49. Mike in SF says:

    I wasn’t sure where to post this but I’d like to vent a little. Sorry if this is inappropriate Cam!

    I just got an email from Holosync’s owner Bill Harris advertising his new free web site called “Mastering Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now”. I’ve gotten dozens of emails from this guy over the years trying to sell me his CD’s and various other new age items including the Qlink necklace. His new site has 6 teachers supposedly helping us understand Tolle’s message. But Tolle isn’t one of the teachers. (Note: I’ve read all of Tolle’s books and basically love his work) And at the bottom of the main page in small print it says “This site is neither sponsored by, nor is it affiliated with, Eckhardt Tolle” But this hasn’t kept Bill Harris from using the cover of Tolle’s New Earth book as the main theme of the site. It seems like just one big marketing ploy to piggy back off of Tolle’s success and to sell more Holosync CD’s, and to bring more attention to the teachers he interviews.

    Aside from Byron Katie, all the other teachers are very, very closely associated with Ken Wilber. I heard an interview with Ken a few years ago where he said he thought The Power of Now was “a marvelous book”. But Ken has his own “Integral” system of thought and I really doubt in his interview with Bill that they’ll stay focused on Tolle’s stuff. But I haven’t heard it yet so I may be wrong about this.

    Another teacher is Genpo Roshi. He charges big bucks for his Big Mind process seminars and also sells expensive DVD sets. He gives seminars at Ken Wilber conferences. The first interview is with Genpo and they spent more time talking about Genpo’s path and teachings and products than about Tolle’s teaching. They also talk about Bill’s Holosync products. They even denigrate Tolle’s teaching about Presence several times by saying things like “you don’t want to get stuck there”.

    The whole thing seems really slimy to me and I just wanted to share.

  50. Mark says:

    “They even denigrate Tolle’s teaching about Presence several times by saying things like “you don’t want to get stuck there”.

    I’ll bet they have all sorts of wonderfull experiences and colorfull displays and other mental fireworks for sale !!
    Nice, if you’re into that. I’ll have a look at it if they can get me a shot of parabrahman experience. BTW do they tell what’s the color of parabrahman?

    bye,
    mark

  51. tom says:

    For those interested in non-duality have a look at :

    http://conscious.tv/consciousness.html?bcpid=1498094995&bclid=1610663950&bctid=1610678214

    =Interview with JEFF FOSTER
    very good !!

  52. daniel papstein says:

    Gee vira did it take a long time for you to come up with that morph, you’re truly amazing!
    Hey mark if it didn’t smell how would I catch the sent?

  53. mark says:

    Hi daniel pappenheimer,

    Scent happens dude !
    There’s no “I” to catch it.
    Just let it overwhelm you
    Let your ‘ego’ suffocate
    And rise from the mist
    of its entanglements.
    Open the window
    of your soul.

    Have a nice one !
    ciao

  54. mark says:

    Didn’t you hear :
    “the catcher is the caught” 😉

  55. daniel says:

    You know Mark sometimes people say thinks just for the hell of it, if enlightment had a smell maybe I could sniff it out . Bob sezs all this stuff is just shit anyway so I’d have a hard time knowing the difference ! If you say soul you haven’t listen to the advaita show enough, what’s a soul , who owns one , what I,AS YOU SAY:) I? APPRECIATE YOU’RE or not COMMENTS.

  56. mark says:

    I’ve heard it said that:
    “Enlightenment is asking the question “WHO AM I” until ‘YOU’ disappear into your own ass”
    Until then we do not really understand the truth of:
    “I AM an ass, YOU ARE an ass”
    wich paradoxically holds just as well true as: “YOU’RE OK, I’M OK”
    Just bend 180° and behold the void !
    Good luck,
    Mark

  57. mark says:

    Which is, if I may add, as a famous GURU once replied: “Nice”.

  58. Down Belowwwwww says:

    Steven,

    You kill me…… Funny how you think you are God and you can go ahead and continue flirting with another man’s partner in life. Does God have no scruples???? I guess God just needs to learn more through you. Might you take a moment that God has decided to learn through me…….. Nice Book you have… look forward to your personal autographed copy.

    Love

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