...is directed at people who stay in the mind, spinning endlessly in their ideas. Observation, looking, watching, or attending is not a mind activity in the way most of the people on this forum use the word "mind" when discussing non-duality. Reaching a conclusion, theorizing, judging, calculating, and making distinctions are mind activities.
The biblical admonition, "be still and know," is pointing to a different kind of knowing than mind-knowing.
Self-improvement activity is frequently described as a hamster-wheel activity because there is no end to it. Selfhood is an illusion, so any effort to improve a non-existent self is an endlessly cyclic activity and bound to fail. You can't imagine an imaginary self into existence, but you can transcend the illusion by getting off the hamster wheel through attentiveness.
The via negativa approach, or neti neti (not this, not that), is the denial of anything conjured by mind. Most people on this forum prefer the via positiva approach of watching, looking, or attending.
The biblical admonition, "be still and know," is pointing to a different kind of knowing than mind-knowing.
Self-improvement activity is frequently described as a hamster-wheel activity because there is no end to it. Selfhood is an illusion, so any effort to improve a non-existent self is an endlessly cyclic activity and bound to fail. You can't imagine an imaginary self into existence, but you can transcend the illusion by getting off the hamster wheel through attentiveness.
The via negativa approach, or neti neti (not this, not that), is the denial of anything conjured by mind. Most people on this forum prefer the via positiva approach of watching, looking, or attending.
