Dear James,
I hope you are doing well. I keep up to date with the latest news from Shiningworld via the newsletter and have also heard about your treatment. I wish you and Sundari all the best.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t come to the teaching in Berlin last year, but I’m still on the Vedanta bus. Since I am too undisciplined to create a proper practice for my nididhyasana from the guidelines of the Vedanta, Ishvara presented me with a Course in Miracles. Since I come from a Christian tradition and thanks to Vedanta can reinterpret the Christian teachings accordingly, the language of a Course in Miracles is like coming home for me. Maybe it is similar to you when you heard Sanskrit for the first time. I study both the Course in Miracles and Vedanta almost every day. To me it makes little difference. The form of teaching is different, but not the teaching itself.
I finished the translation of “How to Attain Enlightenment” at least 18 months ago. Then I started revising it and got halfway through. Unfortunately, I had the stupid idea of starting all over again with the help of a computer language tool and suddenly all the joy of the work was gone. I started over and over again 100 times and finally did nothing at all. You could say I failed because of my perfectionism.
I’m contacting you again now because I would like to finish the book. And I’m hoping for a motivational boost by contacting you first (not that you should motivate me). Perhaps I’ll just continue on page 160 and leave everything as it is.
I wish you a wonderful retreat in Bali and hope that you will come to Berlin again soon.
Love Ted
Hi Ted,
Your message isn’t terribly inspiring to say the least. You may have found Vedanta and The Course in Miracles but what good are they if you can’t make up your mind and complete a simple project. It’s natural to dither for a few seconds or minutes, because the upside and downside of every choice cancels the gain or loss that results, but this shouldn’t keep you from acting in an appropriate and timely way. If you fail to act in an appropriate and timely way, your life will stagnate, which it has.
If you understood karma yoga you wouldn’t be in this tamasic state of mind. I suggest that you throw out the whole translation project. How can a translation work if the translator, much less an AI program, doesn’t know the topic, which you obviously don’t. AI doesn’t even have an algorhytym capable of recognizing non-dual thinking, only the word non-dual. I know from personal experience, as I was warned by YouTube about certain comments I made that were carefully preceded by a setup that anyone with a brain could understand were completely justified and did not mean what they appeared to mean.
Karma yoga is the introductory teaching that takes care of anxiety of which dithering is an extreme example, and gives individuals a personal relationship with God, which gradually eliminates like and dislikes and prepares the mind for Vedanta.
To compare Vedanta to Course in Miracles is ridiculous. Maybe both make you feel good about yourself and give you hope, but that’s where the comparison ends. One is the science (knowledge) of unborn existence shining as whole and complete consciousness and the other is a channelled document from Jesus, whoever that is, through an atheistic Jewish academic popularized by any number of so called “spiritual” types. It’s basically kid stuff, although it has its place. People have to start somewhere.
Dithering is anxiety about results, but since results aren’t up to you, you can quit worrying about perfection and do whatever you think is right for yourself in a cheerful state of mind. I just posted an email on the website entitled “Offload the Anxiety at the Beginning.” Study it carefully and see if you can’t figure a way out of this pernicious state of mind. Confusion is not a lot of fun.
The second point is about the fact that you’ve written me. I assume it is because you want some advice. It is clear that you actually haven’t made any progress since we met. It’s always the same story. You need a story upgrade. An upgrade would be that, like Arjuna who is stuck dithering in the no-man’s land, you turn your mind over to a teacher, in this case me, and follow my suggestions. A “no-man’s land” is a place where children live; they can’t think for themselves so they need teaching aka parents. I’m not looking to teach anyone, but I can teach very well. There are thousands of testimonials to that effect. If you want me to teach you, you need to throw out the Course in Miracles and forget all the Vedanta you have picked up so far.
If you want guidance, you need to follow the program on the website starting with the link on the homepage “New to Vedanta” and study Tattva Bodha for at least two months, then write up your understanding and send it to me so I can see if you got anything. You need to come to the weekly satsang on the internet every Sunday and you need to donate to ShiningWorld Inc. at least 25 euros a month. (See the donation philosophy on the website). And you need to follow my suggestions without dithering.
If you are not willing to do this, stay in samsara until you hit bottom. I’m a good teacher, but Maya is the best possible teacher. It will bring you to your knees and get you out of this tamasic fog. I’m sorry to be so straightforward with you…think of it as tough love… but you need a wake up call. Good luck and let me know what you think about his letter. You can’t offend me, but it’s time to put on your big boy pants and get real about your spiritual inclination. Time is passing.
Much love,
James
