Source Text
this book is about the ‘self’ center, the ‘me’, the apparent ‘thing’ that makes one feel as though one is a person with free will and choice. When I am asked, “What is non-duality?” it is really quite simple. Non-duality means there is no me, so there is no everything else and it’s not replaced by anything - it’s replaced by not knowing. Duality on the other hand is very simple. It’s the sense that I am separate, there’s me, and everything else.
Me: I’m not complete. I’m not fulfilled. There are holes in me that need filling. I’m not quite good enough. I could be much better. I don’t think I’ve met any selfs that feel that they’re complete but I’ve met plenty who tell me they are. There is a downside to the sense of completion because that is what motivates me to work on myself. All motivation that I have comes from that need for completion, that need for wholeness, that need to feel good enough. That sense of incompletion is what drives most human beings, what drives most selfs to achieve. “If I achieve that, that will complete me”. As you well know, that doesn’t work. It does have a temporary effect of feeling more complete. The sense of incompletion is inherent in the sense of self, is inherently what I am.‘I
am’, the sense that I exist, and that incompleteness are one and the same feeling. For a short period you can rest and me feels great and can get some peace - peace from that drive to feel complete. Peace from me. I
This whole message is trying to communicate that the sense of incompletion is not true. There isn’t a me that feels incomplete. The sense of incompleteness and the sense of being me are one in the same.
You’ve never known another. What you’ve called your relationship to someone else is just how you feel about that human being and what you think you know of that human being.
This Deafening Silence
The deafening silence of this love is why it’s usually missed. I don’t know where those words come from, but it’s funny - it appears, and it’s as though I read it after it’s appeared. I think that’s how life naturally is. What we take as ‘my life’ is always after the event, after the actuality, after the appearance. So, my commentary, which is my reaction, is my thoughts about it. It’s always after the event, after the happening. And then I say what’s happened and what I did. The actual happening, isn’t happening. We make it seemingly happen by us talking about it, usually to ourselves! It’s
The truth is that nothing is ever lost, only seemingly. The love that you’re longing for, is a longing for completion, longing for a wholeness which we can call love. A love that’s ever present, that can’t be lost. Love is all there is, but you can’t see it, you can’t find it, and you can’t have it. It’s not I’ve seen it, I’ve not got it. I’ve not found it. It’s not that anyone else has found it either, it’s that it can be found - it’s that it Is.
am quite right to be terrified of emptiness because there’s no place for me in empty. I have to stand apart as a something - otherwise I’m nothing and nothing is terrifying. It’s what you want most, but it’s what me wants least. I know that doesn’t make any sense, it’s paradoxical. If I think of the story of my death, let’s say it like it is - Tim died, no one died.
I’m not saying you can lose personal power, you don’t have any now. There is no you to have any. There never was, there never is, there never could be.
AI Summary
This Deafening Silence by Tim Cliss presents key insights from the Taoism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.