Before self-identity ceased, before meeting Tony Parsons, there was a lot of striving and seeking for wholeness, seeking for home. Halina did a lot of seeking through work: therapeutic work as a counsellor and acting and performing work as a singer.
Training to become an actor wasn’t a logical choice and it didn’t make sense at the time. I didn’t realise then that it was all a longing for Oneness, for Being or the Infinite. Getting to know other actors and musicians I saw a similar desire to express and create. It wasn’t playing a certain role or singing a particular song that seemed important it was more the empty space that unfolded, finding the creative space rather than the product.
Similarly counsellors, when working well, enter an impersonal space and may temporarily drop self-identity. This impersonal environment seems to be a healing space for the client and the counsellor.
Creativity is an innate characteristic of Being. It is impersonal and arises spontaneously. When there is a separate self-identity then there is the belief that creativity is ‘mine’. This can lead to discomfort. The owner seeks external approval for ‘their creation’. Endeavour or personal effort can actually seem to get in the way of creativity. We can all seem to suffer from writers block syndrome if we are trying too hard.
Society has ring-fenced creativity offering it up to celebrity status to be praised as personal endeavour and manufactured as product. We have Hollywood stars and famous musicians, wealthy business people who we admire. Success has become the target along with material profit, whilst we overlook the absolute power of emptiness of being. Being this emptiness is Absolute freedom.
We can never disengage from ‘being’ but our belief systems can give rise to the feeling of separation. The thought of separation gives rise to fear. This unease induces further thought that confirms the sense of separation with the idea that we must seek a thought through resolution for the separation dilemma. So a great habitual cycle of behaviour continues.
What you are is the still, infinite beauty, the source of everything. By saying that this beauty is God from which we are separate is a way of believing ourselves to be separate from the source of life, from life itself. We have attributed unreachable holy status to that which we are.
The creative space is being the boundless emptiness and silence, being the beauty behind the sunset. When ‘I’ am not then there is only ‘being.’ An actor may be said to have a sense of presence, there is no one who can own this: there is only Presence.
The thinking function has grown to dominate western culture. If we cannot quantify it we have a tendency to deny that something exists. Scientists seek to quantify life through finding a mathematical equation or formula that will explain life logically. But life is not logical and cannot be understood in this way.
Life cannot be calculated but calculation can arise in life. The father of calculus sought to describe life in words but this is impossible. We have identified with thought and want to label everything. Being cannot be owned or known inside thought but in life, thoughts arise.
In thinking about life we have tried to turn everything ‘outside-in’ which again is why the performance exploring non-duality is called ‘Inside-out’ as it is a perceptual and energetic shift from ‘being me’ to ‘Being’.
Ironically after this shift takes place then it is seen that being me and Being are the same and that there never has been a separation, Being has always been there! There is only infinite stillness. The quality of ‘Being’ can be sensed or felt but not thought.
In the west the super-ego or id rules and the authority figure in our heads keeps us in check. It’ s a rather paranoid way of being where the dream of separation leaves us worried that we have to control life, control the wilderness least it destroy us. With the rise of global warming we are beginning to see the irony of this position. Seeking to control is disempowering and disengaging. A non-dualistic perspective or simply being has the quality of Absolute intimacy- all is Oneness and there is no longer the experience of being cut-off from life. Power does not belong to a person as there is no person who exists.
Our education system is indicative of the idea of authority that persists in our culture. It has become a system of authority and ownership of knowledge. We are encouraged to look outside ourselves for knowledge and authority and must be accredited by the system with exam results and through comparison with our peers. The personal system does not encourage unique diversity. Innovators must struggle to get their new original creativity accepted by the system that maintains the status quo.
Paradox of this site name: non-duality info- there is in fact no information outside what you are already that is pertinent to being. You are already perfect ‘Being’.