Q: ...I have spent so many years seeking that on top of all the worries and doubts there is this annoying know-all guru who comes in with “What is noticing the thoughts?”, “What is already here?”, “What's wrong if you're not thinking about it?” – it just parrots all the books – it can drive you nuts! I'm totally over it. Enough is enough. I don't read anymore (OK, maybe I occasionally pick up a John Wheeler or Jeff Foster book – the “no frills” stuff),

A: I understand that you have been seeking a long time and you want to stop. But this is backwards. You’re looking at phenomena, thinking phenomena are the whole story. That’s not how it is. Phenomena are not the whole story – they are nothing at all. The real story – the real place to look for answers – is behind the phenomena. We have gotten so wrapped up in the phenomena that we forget to stop and ask, Where does this stuff come from? What is the source of these phenomena?

So first, stop looking at all phenomena as anything that holds value for you, whether you’re thinking about the way the phenomena are this moment, or the way they will be after you have “found peace” or whatever. When you see that phenomena are constantly changing, forever arising and dissolving, you will see what folly it is to imagine that we can pin any of that down into a perfect picture that fits our view of how things should be.

Phenomena are let go of as important, and suddenly all is resolved. Why would you let go of phenomena? Because you have gotten a suggestion from a trustworthy guide who tells you the solution is not to be found there, and you try it and see. Just for the moment – it’s just an experiment, and you can always return to the safety of the “known” whenever you want – play with the idea of stopping all engagement with the phenomena. That includes everything! That includes, “This is not helping! I want Annette to fix my problem and she’s not even talking about it!”

The phenomena include everything. The entire world, all activity, all events, and every thought, feeling, sensation, perception, and all that is perceived, and the tool by which you perceive, and even the very center of it all, you! All of this is phenomena that is, for the purposes of this experiment, let go of. For a moment, what happens in the life of Kristen is of no concern, as if she were a character in a novel you’re reading but have put aside for now.

So now, with no interest in the plot of the book – the phenomena – what’s going on? Without defining anything that’s going on using terms that apply only to phenomena, what’s going on? Without conjuring up any words, like stillness, or skepticism, or I, or source – with no words or concepts, what is going on?

Something is “going on.” Something is here, something which does not need the phenomenal label of “I” or “I notice it” to be operative. Something is here humming along, and it is 100% clear that it has always been here humming along. Without “I” – without any phenomenal labels – something is and always has been.

Which are you? Where are you? Are you one of the phenomena that we are not paying any attention to right now? Is that you, in the closed book on the nightstand? Or, are you the humming that has always been here? Can you see how you have been making a mistake all along, about which of these you are?

You always thought you were in the phenomenal story, and that story had to improve, to include things like the end of seeking, and lasting peace. Now you can see that you are the spring from which all phenomena arise spontaneously, including “I who seeks.” When the “I” arises, all other phenomena arise, including seeking. All seeking, and suffering, arises from mistaking ourselves to be this original phenomenal appearance, “I.” You are not that.

This is the clear seeing that is referred to in the non-dual tradition of pointing, which directs you to look somewhere you never thought to look – outside the phenomenal story altogether, and to the source of it all. Once the pointer has been followed – once the spell of phenomena has been interrupted for a moment – it doesn’t take much to see that you are that source, and not anything that appears as phenomena.

The idea of “you” as a personal, conscious entity is totally within the phenomenal world, which can be ignored or not. When it is ignored, where’s all the stuff? Where is the “you”? And yet, here is this, an indefinable presence that has never gone anywhere, and does not depend on being

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.