Fred Davis - The Book of Undoing: Direct Pointing to Nondual Awareness

This book has arisen from DirectPointing sessions that I've had with clients around the world. Thesedeceptively simple inquiries and dialogues work. Men and women whohave studied Nonduality for decades, both in and out of structured traditions,without experiencing even the first authentic glimpse of themselves have cometo recognize their true nature during these talks. Some of them have beenglimpses, and others remain ongoing. Still others, who were confounded byoscillation when we began to talk, have moved from there into stable Nondualawareness. And of course there are a few people who've reported no changeat all; such is the way of it.

I will be using the term"awakening," but we should be clear that this is simply languaging tospeak about a topic that is extremely difficultimpossible, actuallytocommunicate. Silence is really the best medium for this message, but ablank book is unlikely to be very helpful, so we'll plow on ahead using thebest words that we can find. The core of all Nondual teachings is theexperiential discovery of our shared true nature. We could further saythat just beyond the core of Nonduality lies an incredibly sharp andskillful vocabulary, which grows sharper daily as more and more teachers emerge, and the teachers we have grow in experience.

Every teacher represents a uniqueset of hard and soft conditioning (nature and nurture), and thus each one viewsthe singular landscape in a slightly or radically different way. So toowill their experience, understandings, and presentations be distinct. While this can cause some element of confusion, particularly early on, it alsobirths a wonderfully diverse set of approaches. We need all we can get,because it is the languaging of the teacher that is most widely and easilycommunicated, and therefore most apt to lead us from that place just beyond theheart, and into the heart itself.

It is the peculiar nature of Nondualteachings that we can only hear who and what we can hear. We could fill astadium with awake beings, yet you or I might only be able to really resonatewith a few of them. This doesn't mean the rest of these folks are wrongor deluded, it simply means they're someone else'steachers. If we are sincere in our own approach to the teachings, we may be sure that wewill find a teacher or teaching that we will resonate with perfectly. Wecan't fail to; that's just how it works. Nondual teachings tend to belayered. We may be better served to read deeply rather than broadly.

This teaching, myteaching, so to speak, starts from a position that is not new, yet remainsfairly radical. I presume that clients don't need to wake up, becausethey are always already awake. Awakeness is not something you experience,it's what you are. By the same token, I presume that there's noneed for you to come out of oscillation and into stability, because you arealways already still. Stillness is not something you experience,once again it's what you are. Having understood the absolute truthof these things, we then embrace the relative nature of them. In otherwords, knowing all of this, I then go about the business of helping people wakeup, or leading them out of oscillation! It's just one of many paradoxeswe'll encounter. If you've no stomach for paradox, you won't stay withNonduality very long.

Here's another paradox rightaway. While making no suggestion whatsoever that there is any independententity either writing this book, reading this book, or doing anything else, Inotice that there are nonetheless lots of seemingly independent humanunits running around this planet, even if the planet itself and everything onit are merely apparent objects. Our experience of these things isas real as anything else, so we can't just blow them off with some sort ofhigh-minded philosophy. Thus in the same way we would reach for a hammerto pound a nail for the sake of the larger purpose of building a house, we'regoing to use these human tools to help us, at least in viewpoint, move beyondthem. So go ahead and catalog the observation that when I speak aboutyou, or me, or anyone else, I am making a relative reference as opposedto absolute statement. This kind of initial set-up may seem rathersilly at first, but in truth it sets the tone for what is to come.

I began doing spontaneous Nondualinquiry with others locally here in South Carolina in the autumn of 2010. It wasn't a plan. I had no idea it was even going to happen until itstarted happening. To my astonishment, a couple of people who'dnever so much as heard the word "Nonduality" quickly and easily cameto recognize their true nature. My wife, whose awakening preceded my own,came to a much deeper understanding as she and I talked casually. Something about my message was growing sharper, because I'd been talking to allof these people for years without this sort of pronounced acceleration. These were people for whom I'd been something of a spiritual mentor for quitesome time, so they all trusted me implicitly, which helped a lot. There was no skepticism on anyone's part, and no fear of either failure orsuccess, just an innocent openness; a full willingness to see where ourconversations led. This is the most fertile spiritual ground, sowe all got lucky, so to speak.

These early successes gave me agreat deal of confidence in myself as a teacher. Ultimately, havingpeople awaken either in our presence, or as the (apparent) direct result of ourteaching, is the only telling vote that counts concerning the combination ofour voice's authenticity, and our ability to effectively communicate theteaching, meaning to competently point toward that which we all are. Positive results are the only acceptable measurement. Good looks, charm,and charisma may be magnetic, but in and of themselves they're notfreeing. How about that waking up thing? Is that happening, ornot? As students of this path, we have to decide what we really want, andpick a teacher accordingly. Not that we can't have more than one teacher,but my point is made.

In the summer of 2011 I started theAwakening Clarity website. That began to bring my still-uneven teachingto the attention of a broader audience. Others visited me in personandlo and behold, most of them woke up. I never knew who was more amazed, meor them. Every time was as fresh for me as it was for them. It's stillthat way. Each time someone I'm talking to wakes up, I somehow geta little clearer too, and a little more confident in my approach. This teaching is constantly evolving. This work excites me like nothingelse I do, or have ever done.

A pattern of inquiry began toemerge; a method of teaching began to take shape. I starting trying newthingsreally I should say that they started on their ownand then I hogged thecredit! But I wanted to stretch and find out what