Picking and Choosing

I keep coming across people who have been studying Advaita for many years, and yet don’t “feel finished.” Frustration is usually expressed.

But the interesting part is that resignation is also usually present; resignation that the seeking will never end, supported by the argument that since there is no person to do anything, nothing will ever be any different. Or, if it will, it is out of the person’s control.

In either case, the resignation takes the form of, “Oh well, why should I bother looking into this; I’m not doing anything anyway, and it will all just be the way it’s going to be. I’ll either wake up or I won’t, but I can’t do anything about it.” And the frustrating feeling of not being finished persists.

If this is what you are experiencing, you’ve probably been told many times that the thought “I am not finished” is based on the idea of a separate self, and is just “more story,” as we say. And it has probably been pointed out to you that right here, right now, nothing is needed – no “finishing” is needed. Right now, there is just this, and that’s all. Nothing missing.

And yet there is still a problem – why? Because while you are willing to hang onto the idea “I am not finished,” you will not entertain, “I can ask: who is not finished?” When that question is posed, you retreat to “There is no one here to do anything, no one here to ask that question.” So doesn’t that also imply that there is no one here to not be finished? You’re being selective in which thoughts you will defend and which you won’t.

Invariably, when I address a person who is “stuck” in this mindset, they will say, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.” And even when pointed out, “Nothing who can do, about what?”, that question is met with a shrug of the shoulders.

There is no further help I can give at that point. So if you find yourself in this predicament, just notice that since you know “There is no one here to do anything,” then you also know “There is no one here who needs to wake up (be finished/feel more solid in this/etc.).”

That pretty much ends the discussion, doesn’t it?