Ever miss what is right in front of you? Or “right under your nose?!” Like this…

The Sunblock Moment (and Why It Matters)

I went into the bathroom to grab the sunblock. My eyes scanned the bottles, tubes, the carousel on the counter—nothing.

Then: “What does it even look like?” The mind flashed the color and label… and instantly, there it was.

Until you know what you’re looking for, you can’t see it—even when it’s right in front of your face.

Until you know something of it, you can’t recognize it. You can’t realize that it’s right here, right now.

“But I Don’t Know My True Self…”

People hear this and say, “But I don’t know my true Self, so how can I find it?”

That objection is a thought in the mind—a strand of the veil. So stop asserting, “I don’t know myself,” because… you do know yourself. 

You are never without yourself; how could you be? You’re just not what you think you are.

You’ve had countless thoughts about yourself (many not so kind!). Yet not one of them is what you are.

You simply haven’t really seen yourself as you are—because you haven’t doubted and asked yourself about it. You haven’t gotten real about it; you’ve accepted unreal thoughts about you.

What You Are Not (And Why That’s Good News)

If you try to answer “Who am I?” maybe the first thing that comes is your name. But you know that your name isn’t what you are.

You can’t say you are the body—because that leaves the mind out.
You can’t say you are the mind—because that leaves the body out.

So you can’t quite pin down what you are. You’re left in a kind of limbo: not knowing what you are—and yet knowing your being, your existence, your presence, constantly.

You know that you are, and that you are here.

Look closely at the idea “I am the body or mind,” and you’ll see you can’t be any one of those. (At age 18: different body, different thoughts—same you.)

Nor are you a “collection” of thoughts or ideas; that’s just another thought-made concept.

Saying “I don’t know myself” is more imagination, hinged on another vague error: that what you are is “a person.”

The Productive Identity Crisis

Since you can’t find yourself as thought, body, or person, you may conclude you don’t know the Self—or worse, that you can’t.

Meanwhile, certain spiritual teachings (see below) may leave you thinking the same. Good. That’s step one.

“Who are you?” cracks the concrete so you’ll doubt what you’ve never doubted and question what you’ve mistaken for real.

As the false falls away and you admit you don’t actually know who or what you are, an identity crisis may strike. However, that opens space—so that it can become clear:

The Self you already know is what everything is.

(But you imagine it’s this body or this mind—this “person” you can’t actually pinpoint as separately, independently existing, or ultimately real.)

That is the Self—your real and true nature.

From Idea to Seeing

Because I’ve shared this, you only know it intellectually; you must realize it actually. You must literally see it—see the undivided nature of the Self you already know and are.

This is the “Oneness” spiritual seekers desire.

So it’s not that you’ve lost yourself. You haven’t gone anywhere. You’ve never left, nor become apart from, yourself. You’re still here.

The catch is that you’re looking in, with, and as the mind—for you. The already-existing you is looking for you: a trick of the mind.

And this is why the mind must cease completely, because:

“What we are looking for is what is looking.” –  (Commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:)

Turning Attention the Right Way

You must be extreme—to abandon the mind—and reach the Supreme.

So, without the mind… Self-Realization requires sustained:

• Intensive discernment (viveka),
• Intensive introversion of attention (turning awareness back to its source),
• Intensive single-pointed interest, and
• Intensive doubt—but now turned upon “things-and-yourself.”

Learn to use reality, not the mind.

See whether the assumed duality of “me vs. not-me” actually exists. In its collapse, Self-Realization dawns—what has always been right in front of your face becomes obvious.

Thus, nothing real changes. You have always known yourself. Confusion about your true nature ends.

You were seeing mind—not reality—and not knowing it.

For you, nothing changes; for the old story of “you,” everything changes. It dies.

That is “ego death”—the death of the false knowledge that was the basis for the illusion of the imaginary separate self.

This is not as easy as a thought, like “There is no-one, or no self.” It takes intensive work to crack the shell of ego.

Ignorance, Teachers, and Fire

It’s through imagination (false knowlege) that we ignore, and so don’t see, our true Self.

That’s “ignorance.” So the problem isn’t that you don’t know yourself; it’s that you ignore truth in favor of the false. You have made the false look real, and the real look false, or completely unknown to you.

This is why true teachers don’t teach, but repeatedly and continually remove false knowledge (ignorance), until the truth dawns on you.

One of my favorite teachings was…

“You are not what you take yourself to be. Find out who you are.”— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

That points out you exist, and there is false and true knowledge. It’s repeated here:

“It is through ignorance that you, the Supreme Self, find yourself under the bondage of the non-Self; and the fire of knowledge, kindled by discrimination, burns that ignorance with its roots.”— Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, v.47

That’s what “satsang” means, to associate with the truth that destroys the false veiling “knowledge.”

That’s what we do in our community webinars. By using the five powers you already possess, we burn through the false. You only need the willingness to doubt and question yourself.

And beleive me, it’s worth it.

In Realizing your true Self, all you have to lose is pain and fear.

— Cindy

What actually is Self-Realization? Read this.

Gentle Invitation

If this stirred something, come sit with us. Explore “Who am I?” in lived reality, not just in thought. The way into our community and webinars is through our Inner Peace Now training (free), see the link below.

Free Training: Claim Inner Peace

Sticking Points on the Path

1. You think you exist separately, individually.
2. You think you don’t exist (that self or consciousness is a biological illusion created by the brain).
3. You think you exist as a spiritual being having a human experience, or “as energy.”

Note: Each assumes separation. The truth of yourself is non-dual—what people vaguely intuit and call “Oneness.”

Why You May Think You Don’t Know Yourself (Pointers)

• Early Buddhism (Pāli Canon). Deconstructing “self” can, if unfinished, leave the idea that you don’t know it. “This is not mine; this I am not; this is not my self.” (Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta, SN 22.59)
• Greek / Delphic Maxim. “Know thyself”—a command implies a lack, meant to provoke the search.
• Sufi Aphorism. “He who knows himself knows his Lord.” (Often quoted; authenticity debated.)
• Christian (Augustine). “Noverim me, noverim te — Let me know myself, let me know Thee.”

Proof You Do Know Yourself (Ramana Maharshi)

• “The Self is known to everyone, but not clearly. You always exist. The Being is the Self. ‘I am’ is the name of God.”
• “Is there anyone who is not realising the Self? Does anyone deny his own existence? … Once we admit our existence, how is it that we do not know our Self?”
• “There is no reaching the Self… You are the Self; you are already That.”
• “The Self is always directly perceived… To be the Self is the same as seeing the Self.”
• “Everyone has experience of the Self every moment…”

Advaita Vedānta

• “Through ignorance, you—the Supreme Self—find yourself under bondage of the non-Self.” (Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 47)
• “The Self is an ever-present Reality; yet because of ignorance it is not realized. When ignorance is destroyed, the Self is realized—like finding the necklace that was always on one’s own neck.” (Ātma-bodha, v.44, common gloss)

Warning

One danger in “self-inquiry” without guidance is stopping at a mental conclusion like “I don’t exist.” That overlooks the you who says so. You are still here. You can’t find yourself as an object, but you can directly know the Self. The only reason there is not the duality of “you-and-others” is because both appearances are the same thing. (Like two sides of the same coin being not two.) If you’ve been stuck there, get your breakthrough here.

Remember

“The Self is always present, yet hidden by ignorance.” (Ātma-bodha, v.44, common gloss)

“One must realize the Self to open the store of unalloyed happiness.”— Sri Ramana Maharshi

Cindy Teevens — Spiritual Facilitator, who keeps it real

Tired of stressful thoughts? Free training: ClaimInnerPeace.com

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“Dreaming the mind causes us to confuse its virtual reality with actual reality.”

“We’re dreaming—and striking out at reality—because of pain and fear inside the dream.”

Tired of the mind? Free training: https://ClaimInnerPeace.com/

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Humanity: the Brink of Extinction, and Edge of Enlightenment first appeared on Cindy Teevens.

One reason we may feel like we’ve hit a wall is because the teacher doesn’t have genuine realization or insight, or they can’t or don’t know how to help you have your own.

I know you’ve been working hard and want to see more results; you certainly deserve it.

You may have recognized this and be on the elusive hunt for a spiritual teacher who actually has some realization, not just a psychologist, preacher, or new age entrepreneur.

The second reason we get stuck…

You probably “get” the teachings intellectually, they have been resonating, they sound good don’t they?

…but… the spiritual teachings are just a little bit too lofty, a little too far removed from our current reality and we can’t see how to reach them.

You want them in your actual experience of life, but despite all your inner work you’ve not reached your goal, are stuck and don’t know how to move forward.

You don’t know what to do next, right?

How do I know? I understand—I’ve been there, too. I heard all the happy enlighenment and “Oneness” stories and teachings, it all made sense, mentally, intellectually, but I was still stressed and stuck actually.

How my journey unfolded

I felt like I needed more than just good literature or lectures; I needed personal guidance on how to go beyond where I was, and what I could see.

At the time, the only thing I could see was painful. My father suffered, became depressed, and died by suicide. That pushed me strongly along the spiritual path.

Years later my own pain and suffering around being dumped in relationship escalated my pain and made my seeking even more urgent. I started looking for personal help.

I wanted a genuine spiritual teacher who was not religious, not woo-woo, not just motivational, and not just a marketer selling woo woo stuff!

To me, that’s all about mind; it’s just about thinking better thoughts, believing and telling better stories about me or others, and honestly I felt that was all pretty shallow and weak.

“Think it and it will come?” Bah! I never believed it. Just like I could never believe in religions. I didn’t want belief, faith, hope or imagination.

I didn’t know it then, but I wanted something real.

However all the real spiritual mentors were either dead, too far away or simply out of reach. I didn’t have money to travel, nor could I afford the time.

And it’s also hard to know who is truly genuine, and not a cult risk.

In my painful stumbling around I managed to breakthrough with the timeless, true and real wisdom of teachers who are no longer alive.

I began to experiment with the reality of the teachings and my living experience.

Insights began to arise, recognitions began to dawn, and then alignments between my actual life experience and the teachings started to fall into place.

How it becomes real in our life

It didn’t only make intellectual or even just intuitive sense anymore—I actually saw what the teachings meant in reality, and they were landing in my life.

My experiments with the body-mind showed me very fundamental things beyond the mind, and even contradicted the mind!

These recognitions contradicted the most basic things I took for granted as real and true my whole life, like what this experience called human life is all about.

They openend me beyond the painful stories in my mind, freeing me from all my stories about myself, others, the world, and even God.

My final, joyful and permanent release happened through my own direct experience and experiments with this body-mind.

That’s how I came to know that it’s not by “preaching” (mere lecturing), and not even by teaching that we truly learn and transform. It’s by your own experience. But not just the usual experience people have.

You have to have unusual experiences to have insight beyond our usual mind.

Insights are not beliefs, ideas nor thoughts of any form; they are not mental knowledge.

True knowledge, especially of your Self

Real insights beyond the mind leave you speechless, but knowing. Real knowledge is not mind-based, it’s the direct, irrefutable recognition of the truth.

As real, and not mere thought, they don’t come and go and so are reliable, stable, and that gives such peace.

The true teachings are important pointers, but if we don’t know how apply them in our real experience for real insight, they are worthless.

So I began to share these body-mind experiments with others, who are also now having insights and realizations that land and are changing their lives, from the inside out.

Why spiritual concepts haven’t worked

No matter how hard you’ve tried, you may still be stuck—and it’s not your fault that woo-woo ideas just don’t work.

They simply don’t work because they remain conceptual when they don’t leave the realm of the mind to become real in your experience.

What happens is that we do have a problem, but we don’t know the true cause, and there are many new age marketers who know how to capitalize on that problem and need to sell things, but they don’t actually know how to help with it.

They make up solutions and then sell these solutions, which are based on their mental creativity and not on realization.

The end result? No results, because it’s not real.

You may become pumped up and motivated, excited about a new idea, but it can’t last because the mind and thoughts are quick and impermanent.

There’s no truth or reality to mere mental ideas, because thoughts come and go… perhaps faster than the speed of light!

We can go ’round and ’round like a hamster on the healing wheel, getting nowhere—and we call it spirituality.

We must not remain on the level of the mind, we have to get real.

Spirituality is not imaginary concept, and it’s not separate from the world. Real world body-mind experiements bring insights into your reality.

Making a real and lasting personal difference

In 2010 my book won the Next Top Spiritual Author Contest, but I turned the win down. Instead of focusing on marketing and selling books, I began to work deeply with people for 14 years.

By actually engaging people personally, together we have honed the revealing body-mind experiments so that people can use them to heal and free themselves through insightful realizations—which can’t be lost!

Once you see and know what you didn’t know, you can’t “unsee” or “unknow” it. There are no “I lost my awakening” stories in our community.

My life’s work (since what I call “the direct seeing” of myself as all, and all as myself), included actually guiding people through using the body-mind experiments.

That work has made the wisdom of the sages accessible and applicable to all in modern life.

You can have the experiences and insights that change your most fundamental beliefs, not just limiting human ones, but existential ones.

The first book I wrote speaks about the “direct seeing,” but it is not about these experiements and insights I now speak of, and that’s because they came later from guiding people.

There is a third book in the works, that will encompass all of this, but as you may know, no book can enlighten you.

You need to do the real work that makes a real difference, and having the guidance you need will speed it up and ensure you don’t get lost and don’t waste any time.

Don’t know how to stay present “in the now”?

What is “the now”? What is the “present”? What does all the new age spiritual jargon really mean anyway, in your real and actual experience? Woo-woo teachings are notorious for being vague, conceptual and inapplicable.

They are often based on the true and timeless teachings of the sages and saints, but they may be distorted or just not made real in your life.

What if someone could help you see what it all means, in your own experience?

It may seem like the days of authentic student-teacher relationships—accesssible ones that go beyond traditional classrooms and are free from manipulative or cult-like dynamics—are long gone.

But that kind of connection is still available!

Of course you have to see for yourself

You’re invited to check out my backstory, find out what happened to me, and to browse my free Youtube videos to get a taste of conscious awakening inquiry coaching.

Don’t believe me though, listen to stories like these from of our reality loving members who keep it real. (We’ve got way more of these to come soon ;).

THE TIMELESS TEACHINGS, applied today that:

• are rooted in personal experience rather than abstract theory
• practical, simple, tangible form of spirituality, not abstract, complex, or unattainable
• offers tools for dealing with stress, anxiety, or conflict in practical ways
• are highly graspable, easy to understand, apply, and integrate into daily life
• are simple, relatable, and intuitive, allowing people to connect with it without needing specialized knowledge, deep study, or complex rituals
• able to trigger insight that transcends yet includes and embraces life
• includes or takes care of how you feel, how you treat others, and how you relate to the world around you
• relatable and easily applicable for anyone, regardless of background or belief system
• Our tools: reality, inquiry, and love and joy

A SPIRITUAL TEACHER who:

• has a long, positive history free from scandal or distrust, and is not pushing pills, chakras or magic mushrooms
• is personally accessible
• is committed to helping you get results, and to your success
• advocates both not running from the moment, and not suffering the moment
• is spiritual and real, not woo-woo

A COMMUNITY THAT

• warmly welcomes all, celebrates diversity, and encourages participants to share their experiences and insights

Through conversation, inquiry, and experiments, the reality of Oneness (or the Single Being) is brought down to ground, into your reality, your experience, and your life, where it transforms your whole perspective and experience of life.

You can get both personal spiritual assistance and the powerful support of community so that you are never lost, stuck or alone again.

Such immersion is a potent, priceless combination, pivotal to inner peace, happiness, love and joy.

You can quickly have breakthroughs that stick.

What’s your biggest challenge?

I’m open to hearing, because I’m always curious about the human experience and how to help.

With open arms, you are invited to click here to drop me an email. (You’re not joining a list, just starting a real human conversation.)

I will personally respond.

Warmly,

Cindy

PS–Check out our conversations that trigger conscious awakening in my clips from the Reality Lover Webinars on YouTube.

Cindy Teevens
Spiritual Facilitator, who keeps it real

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The post Life gave me a gift today… first appeared on Cindy Teevens.

THIS  VIDEO WAS MADE in 2018.

The post Why confusion and frustration are hallmarks of beginners on the spiritual path… first appeared on Cindy Teevens.

But by itself, this seeing is incomplete, and therefore false.

It’s true that you have, almost all your life, thought yourself to be the separate, individual, maker, taker, and actor of decisions. And it can be quite mind-blowing to no be able to find yourself.

Not finding yourself, as an object in your awareness, can result in the realization that you are not who you thought you were. Good.

However, you still are. Can you deny your existence? If so, who is doing it?

We have only ever always found things as objects, things you can point to “out there,” and so we can become quite lost with the realization you can’t “find” yourself in this way. And yet still, not finding yourself as an object in your awareness, as something you can point to, like you point to all other objects, does not negate your reality.

Not being comfortable with not being able to find your objective self, and still not knowing your true self, you may grasp at something to explain it, to stabilize yourself, and you can hold onto a new concept that “there is no one here.”

This can become a new identity. When this happens, rather than exploring the recognition of not being who you thought you are (and so who are you really?), you settle on a denial of your existence.

Where you can get trapped in a non-dual concept is applying impersonality to everything, and ignoring yourself.

I often hear: “There is no seer, there is only seeing.”

Well, says who? Who is aware of the seeing?

There is no such separate actor, and there is no such separate one being acted upon.

Decisions are thought to happen first, mentally, before the next action is known or taken. But the recognition of the next action comes before the I-thought. What we call “decisions” are I-thoughts claiming (through and as words), to be “the one” who made the decision–after the action has already become known to you!

Does not the whole universe “decide”? You may think you’ve decided which route to take across the city, until you come upon an accident or construction detour. Where is the doer or decider now? Oh yes, this fictional character now decides to take a detour! LoL

There are no decisions, since decisions are defined to be made by an individual separate person. There are only actions. Whether the action is limited or ecological (that is, taking into account the whole,) is dependent upon whether or not you think you are the limited.

Through this body-mind, there is only openness to the totality, or contraction and restriction. Contraction creates the image of the false self.

You could say that intelligence is deciding–if the body-mind is open. If not, then ignorance is deciding.

There *is* an I. And this sense of I, identified (through your powers) with the body, thoughts, images etc in the mind, seems separate, and is a pale, limited reflection of your true Self. It may sit on the highway, ignorant to the possibility of a detour. It suffers and causes suffering.

The imaginary separated self does not take the whole ecology into consideration because it can’t even see it–it is by definition, selfishly small.

This same sense of I, pure, with no stories or false images attached to it, is at peace–and is the doorway back to your true Self, the end of separation and duality, for the Self is the same Self of all.

It’s true: there is no {seer… AND seen…} That is subject-object, and duality.
There is only the subject, only the Seer, who is both the subject and the seen.

The I in what appears as a limited manifestation is the unlimited Absolute. (Atman is Brahman).
This cannot merely be acquired as second-hand thought knowledge, it must be directly and actually perceived. That removal of the false, association with the truth, and final recognition is Self-Realization.

The first thing the inquiry “Who am I?” does is remove the false ignorance, but do not stop when you can no longer find your false self. That is just the first step. Don’t get stuck there, continue because it it only after removal of the false can the Truth of your identity be realized.

If you settle on a self that says there is no self, well you still have a false self.

The post Beware: This non-duality trap is duality first appeared on Cindy Teevens.

These are the questions I’ll be answering, and the topics we’ll be discussing. There will be time for open free flowing Q&A…

(A replay is not planned, but there is a replay, the Q&A will not be part of it. (Editing videos for replay is very time consuming and I have a backlog of work in our Reality Lover Community.)

People are using AI to recreate their loved ones, what does that mean, and is it a good idea?

Can AI become sentient, persons?

What’s the definition of sentient?

What’s the difference between AI, the mind, and a real person…?

And if you talk to a deceased person via AI, is it that person who is speaking or is it more Computer AI Psychology

Science is saying that we are only holograms here???

AI can’t possibly be discerning of thoughts of mind, or can it?

Could you image feeding the machine every known writing, statement, recording and/or video of say Buddha or Jesus or Shankara or Ramakrishna or Ramana or Nisargadatti and then creating a 2-D or 3-D version of them for your own private use?!

Most of humanity is asleep and needs to wake up so that it has the wisdom wield the A.I. power that is coming—before it’s here. Though that is too late, it’s already here, so ASAP is what we have.

In other words, this issue needs your attention, now.

Paying attention to it will also boost your spiritual quest for answers into conscious awakening, reality and truth, happiness, and enlightenment.

Let’s use it for that!
I look forward to Thursday with you.

Cindy Teevens
Spiritual Facilitator, who keeps it real

PS–the webinar will go beyond an hour, especially due to the open discussion, but nobody will be able to join after an hour.

You need to hear about the material presented to be in the discussion, we don’t want to waste that time repeating the material.

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Now Mei, who was also on the spiritual hamster wheel, is speaking out about the experience.

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