A Course in Consciousness, Stanley Sobottka 2010 January, free text 262p pdf: Rich Murray 2010.01.20

[Rich Murray]

A Course in Consciousness, Stanley Sobottka 2010 January, free text 262p
pdf: Rich Murray 2010.01.20
http://rmforall.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.htm
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rmforall/message/92
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Stanley Sabottka will answer questions as host of an excellent free
online text discussion group during the month of February, using the
first six chapter of his Course as a study text:
http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/ssblog/stanley_sobottka_hosts_open_awareness_group/


http://faculty.virginia.edu/consciousness/Word%20Consciousness.pdf
262p free 2010 January

A Course in Consciousness

Part 1: Quantum theory and consciousness
Part 2: The metaphysics of nonduality
Part 3: The end of suffering and the discovery of our true nature

Stanley Sobottka
Emeritus Professor of Physics
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4714

Permission is granted to copy and distribute freely.
Changes in content are not permitted.
Please cite this website
http://faculty.virginia.edu/consciousness .

Important:
Because this course makes many statements, the reader might think
that it comprises a new belief system, either to be adopted or rejected.
However, that is not my intention nor is it the intention of the sages of
nonduality who are quoted and discussed.
Beliefs are not understanding in themselves -- they can actually be
obstructions to understanding.
Because Reality cannot be described in words, the words are meant
to be used as pointers to Reality rather than as descriptors of Reality.
Hence, this is a course in seeing, not in believing.

259
Appendix. My resources and teachers

The following resources are the ones that I have found most valuable
on my spiritual journey.
They are only a few out of the thousands that are available.
The comments about them are my own and are purely subjective.

1. By far, the two teachers who have influenced me most are the
jnanis, Ramesh Balsekar and Wei Wu Wei.

Ramesh's latest books,
A Personal Religion of Your Own (2006),
[which I think is one of his best],
The Relationship Between 'I' and "Me" (2006),
Let Life Flow (2006),
Seeking Enlightenment, Why? (2005),
Nuggets of Wisdom (2005),
The one in the Mirror (2004),
The Seeking (2004),
Peace and Harmony in Daily Living (2003),
The Ultimate Understanding (2002),
Sin and Guilt -- Monstrosity of Mind (2000),
and,  Who Cares? (1999),
are good, readable summaries of his current teaching.
Another one,  A Net of Jewels (1996), consists of meditations
from his earlier books, two for each day of a year.
Of the earlier books, I highly recommend two:
1) a metaphysical one,  The Final Truth (1989);
and 2) a translation of, and commentary on,
the Ashtavakra Gita entitled,  A Duet of One (1989).

(Another highly regarded translation, without commentary,
of the Ashtavakra Gita called,  The Heart of Awareness (1990),
by John Richards, is available at
http://www.realization.org/page/doc0/doc0004.htm )

Ramesh's books and tapes, and information about his satsangs,
are available from Wayne Liquorman's website, http://advaita.org
Wayne was one of Ramesh's first students to awaken,
and was later instructed by Ramesh to teach also.

An excellent website devoted to Wei Wu Wei
and run by Matthew Errey can be found at
www.weiwuwei.8k.com
Many of Wei Wu Wei's books are newly in print and available from
www.sentientpublications.com
Eight of them are offered there for the bundled price of $89
(a fantastic bargain!).
All of these books are excellent --
but my favorite is, Posthumous Pieces.

2. The teacher next most influential to me has been Francis Lucille,
whose schedule can be found at www.francislucille.com
Francis cannot easily be categorized as either bhakta or jnani.
I consider him to be an excellent teacher because of his powerful
intellect and the clarity of his answers to questions.
He has written three clear and lucid books,
Eternity Now (1996),
The Perfume of Silence,
and,  Truth Love Beauty (2006), which are available from his website.

3. In his books,  As It Is (2000),
All There Is (2003),
and,  Invitation to Awakening (2004),
Tony Parsons gives a clear and profound description of what life
after awakening is like.
His website is at www.theopensecret.com ,
which also contains instructions for obtaining his books.

260

4. Even though I warn in Section 17.1 against the dangers of
misinterpreting the scriptures, I highly recommend the works of
Ramana Maharshi, who is considered by many to be the
greatest Indian saint of the twentieth century.
His,  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi  is a modern
scriptural classic (first published in 1955,
it has been reprinted ten times and is still in print).
A website at http://www.ramana-maharshi.org
is devoted to his works,
most of which can be downloaded for free.

Particularly helpful is Ramesh Balsekar's book,
Pointers From Ramana Maharshi (2008)
because it is consists of a few selected talks with Ramesh's
interpretations, the teaching of a saint as brought to us by a sage.

Also, a nicely organized condensation of the talks themselves
is given by David Godman in,  Be As You Are (1985).

5. The best known book containing the dialogues of Ramesh's guru,
Nisargadatta Maharaj, is,  I Am That (1984),
which can be freely downloaded from
http://www.celextel.org/home.html

Another book,  Pointers From Nisargadatta (1982),
written by Ramesh, combines the enlightened teaching of
Nisargdatta with the enlightened writing of Ramesh in a concise,
readable book of short chapters.

6. An excellent summary of the basic teaching of the Buddha in its
purest form, without the sometimes spurious additions and erroneous
embellishments of later commentators, can be found in
What the Buddha Taught (1974) by Walpola Rahula.

Another excellent book,  Dancing With Life (2008)
by well-known Buddhist meditation teacher Phillip Moffitt
(website http://www.dancingwithlife.org/index.html ) is a handbook
for experiencing the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha.

7. B. Alan Wallace is a renowned Western Tibetan Buddhism
teacher. His book,  Genuine Happiness (2005) is an excellent
introduction to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.
His website is located at http://www.alanwallace.org/

8. Ajahn Sumedho, senior monk at
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire, England
is the author of the insightful and practical free downloadable
book,  Intuitive Awareness (2001),
which can be found at
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/intuitive-awareness.pdf
He is the only spiritual teacher I know of who advocates simply
trusting Awareness as the basis of all spiritual practice.

9. Candice O'Denver is a modern sage of nonduality who teaches
Awareness/Presence on her website at http://www.greatfreedom.org/
and in her book "The Basic State" at
http://www.greatfreedom.org/The_Basic_State.pdf

10. Rupert Spira ( http://www.rupertspira.com/ ),
a student of Francis Lucille, excels in the nondual expression
of the heart.
His book, The Transparency of Things (2008)
is a masterpiece in its investigation of the nature of experience.

11. Greg Goode ( http://www.heartofnow.com/ ) is unexcelled in
philosophical understanding among nondual teachers.
He is the author of,  Standing in Awareness (2009) (available as a
free download at
http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/images/uploaded/file/Standing.pdf ),
a short, exceptionally clear book of pointers and exercises in nondual
understanding; and,  Nondualism in Western Philosophy (2007)
(available as a free download from
www.stillnessspeaks.com/images/uploaded/file/Western.Phil.pdf ),
a series of pointers to how Western nondualism can assist with one's
self-inquiry.
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Rich Murray, MA
Boston University Graduate School 1967 psychology,
BS MIT 1964, history and physics,
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
505-501-2298  [hidden email]

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