Wilber & the Nondual Secret

I have just finished a book chapter that engendered profound understanding, great laughter, gentle tears, and pure joy. But let me begin at the beginning of how I discovered this wonderful piece. Browsing through the readings and links page of Greg Goode’s website, I came across this entry concerning Ken Wilber’s book, ‘The Eye of Spirit:

Usually, Wilber likes to make simple things complex. But here's an exception. The last chapter of this book, called "Always Already," is a beautiful exception. This chapter is a lyrical meditation on how the very nature of your experience, any experience, is nothing other than awareness, pure spirit. To understand this — is peace. You don't need to read anything else in this book unless you are into grand system-building. But this one beautiful chapter is worth the price of the entire book.

This comment stood out for me because I too felt exactly that way about Wilber, that he “likes to make simple things complex.” And having read Goode’s ‘Standing as Awareness’ recently, I felt Goode had the opposite and unique talent of making complex things simple.

Later, browsing Dennis Waite’s Advaita site, I came across this note on Wilber’s book.

Ken Wilber has written many books and, though I have periodically looked at some of them in bookshops, I have always been put off by what appeared to be an overly intellectual treatment of the subjects. However, the last chapter of 'The Eye of Spirit : An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad' was recommended to me by Greg Goode so I bought it. And I can confirm that this last chapter is amazing. It is the clearest exposition I have ever read of how we are already 'it' and how nothing we can do can ever change this. So clear is it that it is totally unarguable.

So I knew I needed to read this chapter and found the book at a local library. Having just read it, I would not only agree with Goode and Waite on the quality of Wilber’s ‘lyrical meditation’ on awareness, as well as it being the ‘clearest exposition’ on how we are always awareness, but that it's also a beautiful ode to embodying the above understanding in enlightened action. Poetry and wisdom.

Now, I have found the entire chapter on the blog, Integral Options Cafe, where William Harryman has recorded it in one post. William says:

This is one of my favorite passages from The Ken's work... It's more a statement of spirituality, deeply influenced by his Buddhist practice, than it is a statement of integral philosophy. Maybe that's why it resonates more deeply - there's more heart here.

Harryman also includes this from Corey deVos:

In this excerpt from The Eye of Spirit, Ken offers one of the most powerful—and beautiful—pieces of spiritual writing he has ever produced.

So if all of the above doesn't have you clicking on the above link right here right now to read the whole thing, here is a sample of a section I feel is particulary enlightening to whet your appetite for doing so:

We begin with the realization that the pure Self or transpersonal Witness is an ever-present consciousness, even when we doubt its existence. You are right now aware of, say, this book, the room, a window, the sky, the clouds.... You can sit back and simply notice that you are aware of all those objects floating by. Clouds float through the sky, thoughts float through the mind, and when you notice them, you are effortlessly aware of them. There is a simple, effortless, spontaneous witnessing of whatever happens to be present.

In that simple witnessing awareness, you might notice: I am aware of my body, and therefore I am not just my body. I am aware of my mind, and therefore I am not just my mind. I am aware of my self, and therefore I am not just that self. Rather, I seem somehow to be the Witness of my body, my mind, my self.

This is truly fascinating. I can see my thoughts, so I am not those thoughts. I am aware of bodily sensations, so I am not those sensations. I am aware of my emotions, so I am not merely those emotions. I am somehow the Witness of all of that!

But what is this Witness itself? Who or What is it that witnesses all of these objects, that watches the clouds float by, and thoughts float by, and objects float by? Who or What is this true Seer, this pure Witness, which is at the very core of what I am?

That simple witnessing awareness, the traditions maintain, is Spirit itself, is the enlightened mind itself, is Buddha-nature itself, is God itself, in its entirety.

Thus, according to the traditions, getting in touch with Spirit or God or the enlightened mind is not something difficult to achieve. It is your own simple witnessing awareness in exactly this moment. If you see this page, you already have that awareness--all of it—right now.

(snip)

We are aware of this room; just that is it, just that awareness is ever-present Spirit. We are aware of the clouds floating by in the sky; just that is it, just that awareness is ever-present Spirit. We are aware of thoughts floating by in the mind; just that is it, just that awareness is ever-present Spirit. We are aware of pain, turmoil, terror, fear; just that is it.

In other words, the ultimate reality is not something seen, but rather the ever-present Seer. Things that are seen come and go, are happy or sad, pleasant or painful—but the Seer is none of those things, and it does not come and go. The Witness does not waver, does not wobble, does not enter that stream of time. The Witness is not an object, not a thing seen, but the ever-present Seer of all things, the simple Witness that is the I of Spirit, the center of the cyclone, the opening that is God, the clearing that is pure Emptiness.

And just that is the great and guarded secret of the Nondual schools. It does not matter what objects or contents are present; whatever arises is fine. People sometimes have a hard time understanding Spirit because they try to see it as an object of awareness or an object of comprehension. But the ultimate reality is not anything seen, it is the Seer. Spirit is not an object; it is radical, ever-present Subject, and thus it is not something that is going to jump out in front of you like a rock, an image, an idea, a light, a feeling, an insight, a luminous cloud, an intense vision, or a sensation of great bliss. Those are all nice, but they are all objects, which is what Spirit is not.

Thus, as you rest in the Witness, you won't see anything in particular. The true Seer is nothing that can be seen, so you simply begin by disidentifying with any and all objects:

I am aware of sensations in my body; those are objects, I am not those. I am aware of thoughts in my mind; those are objects, I am not those. I am aware of my self in this moment, but that is just another object, and I am not that.

Sights float by in nature, thoughts float by in the mind, feelings float by in the body, and I am none of those. I am not an object. I am the pure Witness of all those objects. I am Consciousness as such.

And so, as you rest in the pure Witness, you won't see anything particular—whatever you see is fine. Rather, as you rest in the radical subject or Witness, as you stop identifying with objects, you will simply begin to notice a sense of vast Freedom. This Freedom is not something you will see; it is something you are. When you are the Witness of thoughts, you are not bound by thoughts. When you are the Witness of feelings, you are not bound by feelings. In place of your contracted self there is simply a vast sense of Openness and Release. As an object, you are bound; as the Witness, you are Free.

We will not see this Freedom, we will rest in it. A vast ocean of infinite ease.

~Ken Wilber