This has been the crowning glory for all the " work" I have done for 50 years. It seems to me like the nudge that has not only opened my head into space for keeps, but I also feel my heart which has been opening slowly, is now blown open. A wonderful blessing, thank you and Douglas with all my heart.
When I see a such a very mild-mannered spiritual teacher my first suspicion tends to be that he is blissed out on a sort of hypnotic idea or mental habit, living a very easy life with a very fuzzy mind... but he does speak a lot of sense; I reckon he knows what he is talking about. It's maybe a shame that Douglas Harding's methodology hasn't reached true mass attention as it's incredibly accessible without compromising on the fundamentals. Better than Eckhart Tolle - too much garnish.
I think I discovered the headless way thing 20 years ago or so. I already had an idea of that perspective from the observations and meditations I'd done. I've been momentarily aware of this emptiness multiple times a day since at least then. But nothing has happened. Still the same awareness, same experience of life, emotions, issues, hang ups, depression, anxiety. Nothing has really changed.
I cant say much for your direct experience because i havent had yours. You did say nothing has changed though, which is interesting, maybe youve said something about the "changeless" in sone way. That could be a boom in some way. Maybe accepting the changeless aspect, thats simplicity at least... simplicity that the "world" cannot offer. That itself could be a great discover, that "non-changing element". Just thoughts, bless
Ok Richard. I accept this now. Its a far more life filled place to live from because its Full of everything. And when I use my attention it is so healthy to my bones. I was afraid this revelation would go by but up until this vid I do believe in practise makes perfect. I Am in awe
I'm surprised I had the luck of finding your own youtube channel! I have only known your work for sometime now but you are somewhat of a figurehead to me.(No pun intended by that.) I watched one of your talks in which you speak of your teenage years trying to find what it truly means to be alive, and I can't help but draw connections. Studying Buddhism was like writing my thoughts out on a page. I'll be buying your book soon and I can only hope that I'll see you in one of your workshops one day.
The void is definitely unnerving if you have issuese letting go your familiar identity... Having encountered the issue that Richard describes here, i can attest to it. You reach a point where you feel like you might actually lose something if you go a bit further. My percept is that when fear is absent, one is ready to "establish" as the awareness back of all things perceivable.
It is wonderful to live from our center. How do you prevent the private self from getting reabsorbed by the thinking of the public self so you can stay centered?
so, are you saying that this is a cumulative thing, rather than a one-off realization that leads to instantaneous headlessness? and is that state of mind then permanent or does it come and go? also, is headlessness more difficult to experience, the more one is prone to being self-conscious?
Know Thy Self said Jesus in the Book Of Thomas which was removed from the bible . Richard is using the word Capacity . Eastern teachers call it Awareness or Conciousness . Religious people call it Soul . Jesus said " Whats the point of gaining the whole world when you lose your soul .
But what about conciousness?Some one like Nissargadatta said to focus on the simple fact of being and trancend it aswell .So that' no one here' is in fact conciousness but trancending it happens when it happens,i quess.
neither can i taste my own tongue or bite my own teeth. you seem to be implying that something should be dawning on me as a result of seeing that, but as of this moment...it obviously hasnt! what is the difference between really 'Seeing' it and merely 'understanding' it as an idea? and how does one jump from the conceptual to the actual experience of headlessness? p.s. do you think douglas could have equally as accurately termed it Facelessness, rather than Headlessness?
great video Richard and thanks for the other ones on the headless site. In some of the videos on Douglas he talks about surrendering to god. How does one do this?
i see the logic of headlessness, but...i remain unable to see out of anything other than my head, with the internal face i wear from the inside. what am i missing....or why is my understanding of the logic of headlessness not leading to some sort of transformative realization...or catalytic reaction, that dissolves my inner face?
You're not being as radical in your seeing as you ought to be. The point where you stop is actually true, but it is, in a sense, too good to be true. There is seeing, and yet it is taking place without a head. Have you noticed that when you see things, you must *assume* there is a head out of which the seeing is taking place? You don't actually see the head at all. watch your experience very, very carefully to catch yourself making subtle assumptions like that. You might say "well, I cannot exactly see my head the say I see other objects in the visual field, but I can feel it with my hands." In that case, you are still not being radically incremental as you ought to be. If you discard all assumptions, however trivial, you will quickly realize that the sensations you feel in no possible way amount to your head. You must take a leap to make them into a head. You feel the sensations and then thinking comes into play and goes "well, those sensations are indicative of the presence of a head." Again, be brutally observant. There is a huge difference between sensations and a picture of a head. The sensations are sensations you feel. Feeling the sensations and assuming there is a head is thinking. Notice that.
Wimsweden, do you call that gigantic pink/black cloud a nose? And these eye shockets of yours can block the sky... If you have a head, then it must be huge (for you).
I notice an angry comment from a guy called Christabel. I feel sorry for people like this, whether they believe it or not, even whether this is all true or not dosent matter. If it makes people feel free, happy, open and more connected it's all that matters. If in not this easy of headlessness I hope Christabel finds peace in life with some other belief or technique. Judging from the comment he hasn't yet.
Well, if you think that someone called Christabel is a man then you have your own issues I reckon. Certainly Emmeline Pankhurst's feisty daughter Christabel might have been able to change your mind. But speaking of "mind", I'm nevertheless in some significant agreement with your criticisms. The idea that we are all of us space, or as Richard Lang says "capacity" for the the things in the world to exist is definitely true. Werner Erhardt of Est fame used to say that too. "I am here to be space for you to exist and you are here to be space for me". Where I agree with you however is with respect to Douglas Harding's idea that, because he could not see his own head directly, (without the aid of a mirror), therefore he didn't have one. This is nonsense of course. He and we cannot see our own heads because our visual apparatus, our eyes, are located in our head looking out and, as such, are unable to bring the head into view, making it impossible therefore for us to see it. That's all. Nevertheless, I say again, the idea that we create a possibility for the world to exist because of our attention to it is undeniable I think.
I hate what I truly am, I hate all this BS trying to make us find who we are when what we are went to all the trouble to make us forget what we are because it I'd so horrific.
Can anyone look down and not see their nose tho no? Almost sort of looking down cross eyed I can see my nose clearly so that rules out the no head theory! Damn!
@@johngoldsworthy7135 No it isnt, its predicted on the gullible, listening to the self appointed prophets of self appointed knowledge dispensers. Someone else always has the answer and someone else has the gullible queuing up to receive their daily dose of wisdom from people who always have the answer. I have listened to thousands of these people. The woo woo and claptrap spoken has reached new heights of bullshit.,
@wimsweden I agree. Yet that "I" that you refer to -- that aperture that is seeing all these sockets and mirror images, is clarity itself, wouldn't you agree? You are the aperture in which all these phenomena appear, I would suggest, like an invisible scaffolding for the dreaming of lives.. Just look back at where you're looking out from -- the infinite clarity lives where your own head is supposed to be!
You say we like you're speaking from who elses experience? Anyway, I am reminded of Alan Watt's there's a vague, 'image' of a nose, you see a blurry shape with one eye, and switch eyes, you see the other 'side' to it? Sounds like you've gotta get unmixed up between, seeing, and feeling, you feel your lips, but you won't see them. Obviously you can't see your tongue :P
Yes but…still the view is from the same point of view, from the same story. This void, or me every time looks from the same body, the same family, same work etc…
