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Robert Saltzman
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The Ten Thousand Things
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Awakeness is NOT "spirituality"
Jenna: One thing I have heard you say (and 'read' you say) is that this moment is so rich, it almost sounds like to you, each moment is perfect in its own way. That you are so appreciative and engaged in each of these moments. I was just wondering, can you share how different that is from when you were not 'awake' yet? I know your experience can never be my experience, but just wondering if there
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“The enchantment of being here at all, alive and aware, is a gift too often considered a problem.
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
“In each moment, things simply are as they are, whether “I” like it or not. That understanding is not something to be “realized” at some imagined future time after sufficient “practice,” but is a simple recognition of the mysterious, ineffable suchness of this moment. In that recognition, there is no thought of meditation, no practice of meditation, and no meditator or doer of anything else. The entire experience of being this particular point of view one has learned to call “myself,” feels unchosen, unfathomable, and mysterious to the nth degree. In the face of that, what exactly will you practice?”
― The Ten Thousand Things
― The Ten Thousand Things
“So many of us want to rush to judgment—to latch on to one style of belief or another, shutting the mind entirely to other possibilities.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
― The Ten Thousand Things
“In each moment, things simply are as they are, whether “I” like it or not. That understanding is not something to be “realized” at some imagined future time after sufficient “practice,” but is a simple recognition of the mysterious, ineffable suchness of this moment. In that recognition, there is no thought of meditation, no practice of meditation, and no meditator or doer of anything else. The entire experience of being this particular point of view one has learned to call “myself,” feels unchosen, unfathomable, and mysterious to the nth degree. In the face of that, what exactly will you practice?”
― The Ten Thousand Things
― The Ten Thousand Things
“The enchantment of being here at all, alive and aware, is a gift too often considered a problem.
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
“the ten thousand things
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.
– Eihei Dogen
If one is very fortunate indeed, one comes upon – or is found by – the teachings that match one’s disposition and the teachers or mentors whose expression strikes to the heart while teasing the knots from the mind. The Miriam Louisa character came with a tendency towards contrariness and scepticism, which is probably why she gravitated to teachers who displayed like qualities. It was always evident to me that the ‘blink’ required in order to meet life in its naked suchness was not something to be gained in time. Rather, it was clear that it was something to do with understanding what sabotages this direct engagement. So my teachers were those who deconstructed the spiritual search – and with it the seeker – inviting one to “see for oneself.” I realised early on that I wouldn’t find any help within traditional spiritual institutions since their version of awakening is usually a project in time. Anyway, I’m not a joiner by nature.
I set out on my via negativa at an early age, trying on all kinds of philosophies and practices with enthusiasm and casting them aside –neti neti – equally enthusiastically. Chögyam Trungpa wised me up to “spiritual materialism” in the 70s; Alan Watts followed on, pointing out that whatever is being experienced is none other than ‘IT’ – the unarguable aliveness that one IS. By then I was perfectly primed for the questions put by Jiddu Krishnamurti – “Is there a thinker separate from thought?” “Is there an observer separate from the observed?” “Can consciousness be separated from its content?” It was while teaching at Brockwood Park that I also had the good fortune to engage with David Bohm in formal dialogues as well as private conversations. (About which I have written elsewhere.)
Krishnamurti and Bohm were seminal teachers for me; I also loved the unique style of deconstruction offered by Nisargadatta Maharaj. As it happened though, it took just one tiny paragraph from Wei Wu Wei to land in my brain at exactly the right time for the irreversible ‘blink’ to occur.
I mention this rather august lineage because it explains why the writing of Robert Saltzman strikes not just a chord but an entire symphonic movement for me. We are peers; we were probably reading the same books by Watts and Krishnamurti at the same time during the 70s and 80s. Reading his book, The Ten Thousand Things, is, for me, like feeling my way across a tapestry exquisitely woven from the threads of my own life. I’m not sure that I can adequately express my wonderment and appreciation…
The candor, lucidity and lack of jargon in Robert’s writing are deeply refreshing. I also relish his way with words. He knows how to write. He also knows how to take astonishingly fine photographs, and these are featured throughout the book.
It’s been said that this book will become a classic, which is a pretty good achievement for someone who isn’t claiming to be a teacher and has nothing to gain by its sale. (The book sells for the production price.) He is not peddling enlightenment. He is simply sharing how it feels to be free from all the spiritual fantasies that obscure our seamless engagement with this miraculous thing called life, right now.”
―
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.
– Eihei Dogen
If one is very fortunate indeed, one comes upon – or is found by – the teachings that match one’s disposition and the teachers or mentors whose expression strikes to the heart while teasing the knots from the mind. The Miriam Louisa character came with a tendency towards contrariness and scepticism, which is probably why she gravitated to teachers who displayed like qualities. It was always evident to me that the ‘blink’ required in order to meet life in its naked suchness was not something to be gained in time. Rather, it was clear that it was something to do with understanding what sabotages this direct engagement. So my teachers were those who deconstructed the spiritual search – and with it the seeker – inviting one to “see for oneself.” I realised early on that I wouldn’t find any help within traditional spiritual institutions since their version of awakening is usually a project in time. Anyway, I’m not a joiner by nature.
I set out on my via negativa at an early age, trying on all kinds of philosophies and practices with enthusiasm and casting them aside –neti neti – equally enthusiastically. Chögyam Trungpa wised me up to “spiritual materialism” in the 70s; Alan Watts followed on, pointing out that whatever is being experienced is none other than ‘IT’ – the unarguable aliveness that one IS. By then I was perfectly primed for the questions put by Jiddu Krishnamurti – “Is there a thinker separate from thought?” “Is there an observer separate from the observed?” “Can consciousness be separated from its content?” It was while teaching at Brockwood Park that I also had the good fortune to engage with David Bohm in formal dialogues as well as private conversations. (About which I have written elsewhere.)
Krishnamurti and Bohm were seminal teachers for me; I also loved the unique style of deconstruction offered by Nisargadatta Maharaj. As it happened though, it took just one tiny paragraph from Wei Wu Wei to land in my brain at exactly the right time for the irreversible ‘blink’ to occur.
I mention this rather august lineage because it explains why the writing of Robert Saltzman strikes not just a chord but an entire symphonic movement for me. We are peers; we were probably reading the same books by Watts and Krishnamurti at the same time during the 70s and 80s. Reading his book, The Ten Thousand Things, is, for me, like feeling my way across a tapestry exquisitely woven from the threads of my own life. I’m not sure that I can adequately express my wonderment and appreciation…
The candor, lucidity and lack of jargon in Robert’s writing are deeply refreshing. I also relish his way with words. He knows how to write. He also knows how to take astonishingly fine photographs, and these are featured throughout the book.
It’s been said that this book will become a classic, which is a pretty good achievement for someone who isn’t claiming to be a teacher and has nothing to gain by its sale. (The book sells for the production price.) He is not peddling enlightenment. He is simply sharing how it feels to be free from all the spiritual fantasies that obscure our seamless engagement with this miraculous thing called life, right now.”
―
Have extra socks on hand when the ones you’re wearing get blown off. In truth, it’s not really a book. The advertisements are wrong. The Ten Thousand Things is an experience. It’s also not a ‘read it once, love it or hate it, put it down’ experience. It becomes part of your life, and will continue to shake you in places and in ways you least expect long after you put it down. Saltzman’s black and white photos at the start of each chapter, including deeply compelling portraits of ordinary people in scenes of everyday life, seem to beckon the reader in: Here we are, in all our humanity and raw beauty, welcome to these pages. . .