One: Essential Writings on Nonduality [Paperback]

Jerry Katz had me from the first sentence when he defined nonduality as "the experience of our true nature, the taste of being" -- what a clear, concise definition. Direct seeing itself is the experience -- you can call the experience itself Self, or if you choose, God -- and in this direct seeing one becomes whole. This is the experience of becoming a participant in the natural bliss of plants and flowers and trees, and it is one's death as well as rebirth. As soon as we drop the mind [ego] that is the source of all fear, this new world unfolds. In it, we become one with nature. Nothing is separate, nothing is different, and everything begins to throb in harmonious peace, which is our true nature.

Then, one page later, when Katz said that the need for knowing nonduality is grace, and that grace is a profound gift arising from truth, my heart nearly exploded. He went on to say that allowing the desire for nonduality to unfold saves us from fear -- the fear that we're missing what is real [true] and the "great fear" that we do not exist [we just "are" -- "being," as opposed to "being this" or "being that"]. This was all said in the first three pages and is where this review probably needs to end, even though the following 190 treasure-filled pages are as plenary as these three.

The essence of the remaining pages is that we cannot transcend a duality by choosing only one of its sides. It is the choosing itself that is the mistake. The nondual path is where there is no extreme, no duality, no choice to make. Instead, we are to move into the consciousness that chooses, into the state of knowing that perceives the duality. This movement is true wisdom, and it is this wisdom that is the door to light. All actions, perceived as good or bad, happen against a background of "being" that is unaffected. Ultimately, neither good nor bad has any real existence. Reality is beyond dualities. Consciousness -- which is all there is -- supports all, without involvement. "Good" actions are those that point one back towards the truth, towards knowledge of Self. "Bad" actions entrench one further in the depths of illusion, taking one further away from Self. And, there is no reaching Self because You are Self -- you are already That. This is nonduality, where there is no separation from Self or truth.

Still, I am compelled to comment on Jerry Wennstrom's chapter of "becoming nothing" in the nondual perspectives section. A film has been made about the life of Whidbey Island artist, Jerry Wennstrom. Beginning in 1979, Wennstrom destroyed all the art he had created, gave everything he owned away, and began a new life. He sensed an inner and outer world in perfect order and became a willing participant in that order -- he leaped into the void, the ultimate creative act. In reading this chapter, I tasted the "great freedom that nothing is ours to hold or identify with...and that the only territories consistently worth exploring are the badlands of limitation and fear. When we release the personal identity, then our gifts will be sanctified and returned. The attempt to do anything significant in the world before we have been deeply changed ourselves is a way to avoid real change. Good intention counts for very little...doing our own work first leads to our true and unique participation in the world we wish to serve." Jerry Wennstrom and I met in the Heart as I read this chapter, three times in a row. The Heart is the only possible place to meet, to join -- no separation from truth is there. And, I'll end this review with a quote from Wennstrom: "A mature creative life, which has discovered its source, finds it is linked to everything."

The editor of "One: Essential Writings on Nonduality", Jerry Katz, exhibits an intuitive grasp of the universality of a nondual understanding of reality through his selection of the broadly ranging texts included in this volume. He succeeds both in presenting the essential features of Nonduality through his selection of the succinct teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi which are formatted in a clear question and answer format, and also in ensuring that his readers do not stray from the important point that Nonduality is not a particular school of thought or system of any one person or culture, but rather lies at the heart of a broad range of writings in many fields, including education, art, and cinema, as well as in mystical writings from all major religions. This is the fruit of this book.

There are many ways to talk about Reality, but none of them adequately encompass the wholeness of Reality. Language focuses on descriptions of the world around us, but necessarily loses focus when we attempt to turn it onto the essential nature of Wholeness. Lacking a basis upon which to distinguish non-dual Reality, each speaker must necessarily create his or her own language for describing the nature of that which they have come to realize in their heart. By placing many of these descriptions, each couched in its own subjective terms, side by side in this volume, Jerry Katz had made it possible for us to find the nuggets of gold buried, sometimes deeply, other times lying close to the surface, in each contribution and thus to see their common nature. As he points out in his introduction to the selection of texts he calls "Nondual Confessions": "It is important to grasp that self-realized people are speaking from an understanding about reality very different from the understanding of most others."

"One" is probably the best introductory text for gaining access to this understanding of Reality. Finding this book is a grace, spending the time to understand its' meaning is worth every moment.

James Corrigan
An Introduction to Awareness

Q: What is the sound of one editor, editing?

A: Deafening, like the roar of many waters, is the silence and peace it can bring! -- especially so in this case, as the editor, Jerry Katz (owner of nonduality [dot] com) knows the nondual literature of past and present as few other Earthlings do.

Nonduality is an ancient view of consciousness and being, albeit a minority view. It's what you've always known, but have ever been told is naive and impossible: All is one! And the beauty of this realization is nothing less than breathtaking in its arrangement in this volume.

If you're just beginning your inquiry into nonduality, his selections will bless you on your way, while encouraging you to retain the suppleness of 'beginner's mind.' If you are a person of long and/or deep spiritual practice, able to bring an open thought to these readings, you will surely find insight here.

His is a full-spectrum presentation. He has a gem dealer's eye for clarity, hue, sparkle, while never seeming to be put off by packaging or provenance. This man knows how to select and string pearls! And he doesn't care if they are from freshwater water, or salt; from east, or west. He shows us their fitting place; he is able to juxtapose them into a setting that is fluid, graceful, stunning in their relational beauty. Readers will find their wariness of brandname spiritual practices fade as they are able to behold, simply, what is.

His selections range from Native American to Christian, from Tao to Hindu and Sufi. And they all point to One, not-two, thus nondual. Isn't it time you availed yourself of some help putting 'Humpty together again?' The whole is the sum of the parts. And they belong together, as he shows us. Yes, it's just a start, but the journey is both inviting and compelling. This is a great place to begin.

~eric. Alden, NY

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