Author of THE BOOK OF ONE (THE SPIRITUAL PATH OF ADVAITA)
[Today, this forum based in the U.S. will provide the opportunity for a questioner in Canada to receive a reply from a published author in the United Kingdom. The reply comes from an advaitin who will soon be approaching twenty years of Advaita study. He lives in England and his site is one of the major Advaita Vedanta internet sources on the web at www.advaita.org.uk. His book is the most masterful and all-inclusive source that I have found to date for those studying Non-Duality, so we welcome our Guest Columnist, Dennis Waite and our guest Andrea from Canada.]
[Today, this forum based in the U.S. will provide the opportunity for a questioner in Canada to receive a reply from a published author in the United Kingdom. The reply comes from an advaitin who will soon be approaching twenty years of Advaita study. He lives in England and his site is one of the major Advaita Vedanta internet sources on the web at www.advaita.org.uk. His book is the most masterful and all-inclusive source that I have found to date for those studying Non-Duality, so we welcome our Guest Columnist, Dennis Waite and our guest Andrea from Canada.]
Andrea: “Do thoughts create our reality? I have played with this for years and watched how 'my' thoughts created my so-called reality. Can you explain? Thanks, Andrea."
Dennis Waite: “Hi Andrea. You use the adjective ‘so-called’ reality regarding your thoughts so you obviously appreciate that the ‘true’ reality is not something that is at all relevant to your thoughts. It was, is and always will be the only, non-dual reality before the Andrea body-mind-personality was born and after it has died.
So who you really are (the non-dual Self, reality, Brahman, God, Absolute or whatever you prefer) is totally unaffected by any of that. At the level of appearances however, i.e. Andrea, the world and others, this Self is presumably identified with a body and mind and the mistake is made that ‘I AM this body called Andrea’. Whilst this error continues to be made, there will be the belief that you are limited by this body-mind. To this extent, the world of Andrea will appear to be your reality. If there are thoughts of fear, you will say ‘I am afraid’ and your world will become very small. If you are in love and your heart opens, all will seem well and the world very large and full of happiness.
So yes, you are right, in the normal state of man and woman our thoughts effectively create our reality. But this normal state is one of error, mixing up real and unreal and resulting in our effectively living out a dream.
Best wishes,
Dennis
F.: “Dennis, You have shown again why I should prefer your direct and succinct style to my own! I also appreciate the sharper clarity in your point, 'in the normal state of man and woman our thoughts effectively create our reality. But this normal state is one of error, mixing up real and unreal.' Finally, what an excellent reminder (or 'de-mind-er'): either life happens in the stability of the Non-Dual Self or is marked by the ‘slings and arrows of the outrageous fortunes’ of duality: joyous sometimes, miserable sometimes; fulfilled on occasion, empty on occasion; free at times; imprisoned at times. Thank you, Dennis.”
To order your copy of Dennis Waite’s THE BOOK OF ONE (The Spiritual Path of Advaita), or to send a gift copy to a friend or relative, our guests may visit Dennis Waite’s website by using the link at the top of the page.
[Tomorrow, we continue our discussion of THE SECOND DEGREE OF SEPARATION FROM REALITY: Mind Identification, which results in the illusion that the personality is the real.]
COMING SOON at www.floydhenderson.com: A new book entitled From the I AM to the ABSOLUTE (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality), guiding readers through the Seven Degrees of Separation from Self and to the Reality beyond.
