Not I, Not other than I: The Life And Teachings Of Russel Williams

by Russel Williams

Practices such as meditation and chanting can take you away from the conditioned world temporarily, which gives you a chance to appreciate the difference between the conditioned and the unconditioned. And what you find, in deep meditation for instance, is a void which is beyond measure and beyond dimensions. Consciousness expands way beyond the body – in fact, it isn’t even conscious of the body, only this vast, boundless emptiness. Keep going there – don’t try to see anything, but keep the mind’s eye open. Sooner or later things will arise and show themselves to you. And in that showing you will experience unity, because what arises is absorbed into the consciousness. Perhaps there will be a time when you’re quietly doing something in a state of absorption, and suddenly you know; suddenly it takes your breath away. But not in meditation – meditation only prepares the ground. You can only deal with these things by looking at your own experience. Don’t look to my experience as a given truth – your truth is what matters, not mine. And when you begin to see things you’ll find they’re not so different anyway – but at least you know for sure, through experience rather than through a belief system. Belief prevents you from seeing the actual.