Q: I've just read your home page. I've been a seeker for decades, and I am frustrated. I have not read your entire website yet, but there is nothing in your essay that I disagree with.

I don't know why I've decided to e-mail you; I guess I'm just desperate. I read clear explanations of this written by sincere people, but despite all this studying it escapes me.

All I am left with is a certain level of understanding, but nothing else. Some suggest there is nothing to do, others say practice "resting as awareness" or some other meditation or technique to facilitate this. Some say the understanding happens abruptly, others that it occurs more gradually.

Can you give me any suggestions?

A: You’re stuck in a very common rut, and I hope I can help you see your way out of it.

As long as you see this as a problem of “Larry” needing to get something (such as an understanding, peace, etc.), or needing to avoid something (such as frustration, desperation, etc.), then the problem will persist exactly as is. The problem is the idea of “me” over here, and those other things over there that I need to either get or avoid. As long as you are mentally framing your experience this way, the problem will persist, because that is the very definition of the problem itself.

So there is no amount of getting (more knowledge, answers) and no amount of eliminating (confusion, stuckness) that will ever resolve this issue. We find this hard to embrace, because it goes against how we’ve lived our whole lives, working to better our lives by moving the pieces around. But that approach is not useful here. The issue has to be mentally framed differently, or it will persist. So all attempts to gain understanding and all attempts to dispel frustration will work counter to your efforts, since they only strengthen the perspective that there is a “me” over here and “that stuff” over there.

But that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do. You can disrupt the hypnotic spell the mind has cast, the mind which tells you that the reality of “you” is something it is not. You are in a spell of habit, that’s all. The work involves getting out from under the spell. We do that by devising means to discover that our ideas of “how things are” are just ideas, not reality. We happen to believe an idea which keeps us suffering and frustrated, and this can be changed by seeing that the whole premise is wrong. The idea of a separate “me” over here and “other stuff” over there is simply incorrect. What can you do to see this?

Just imagine for a moment that you, understanding, peace, frustration, and desperation are all part of the same thing. All one thing. And in this one thing, there is no movement of any kind, because there are no separate elements to move. You cannot add peace or understanding to you, because these are not differentiated forms. “You” cannot be made better, or worse, because there is no separate element “you.” You, and all things that appear – it is all one thing. A solid block of reality. Nothing can go anywhere and be anything other than this. Can you imagine yourself this way for a moment, having no form, no boundaries, and being all of it?

There are many ways to approach this re-habituating of your mental framing, and this is only one suggestion. You can come up with many of your own, but this is the key, the open secret: you are not a separate person with “an understanding” to gain. You are already all of it. This is where the idea gets re-defined, so that the concerns and problems you describe stop being seen as problems. And that’s the only way to do it! You can’t fix the problems by acting to gain more understanding, or by acting to avoid discomfort and fear. That is all defined in a false system of parts (me and other) which does not exist, and the only reason it seems like there are problems is that this false system is believed in as real, by habit.

I hope this helps.

In 2005, tired of seeking, Annette began looking into the false assumptions that fuel the spiritual search and keep it going indefinitely. With the help of Bob Adamson, John Wheeler, and Stephen Wingate, she dismantled every illusion that there is something to seek. Annette lives in Mill Valley, California, and has been sharing clear pointers with others since 2005. Her website is www.whatneverchanges.com.