Inspirational Bits

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Carol Ruth Knox

“Courage is a solid, confirmed conviction, contained within one’s being, based on trust in the Presence that is God functioning always, everywhere, needing no proof, and no  results.”

Video Clip: The Path of Non-Duality (MP4)

CRK on Non-Duality – Video Clip
(Click Play button to the left to open video in new window)

 

CRKIn Fear and Trembling And the Sickness Unto Death, Soren Kierkegaard writes, “It is supposed to be the most difficult task for a dancer to leap into a definite posture in such a way that there is not a second when he is grasping after the posture, but by the leap itself he (or she) stands fixed in that posture.”

We use the phrase “Go for it” a lot in our society. The problem with the “Go for it” phrase is that we assume we know where we will land. One does not live courageously if he/she has to know where the earth will reach out and grab you or how you will land or who will catch you. You just must leap and spend your life in the instant of leaping.

Kierkegaard continues, “Perhaps no dancer can do it—that is what this knight of courage does. Most people live dejectedly in worldly sorrow and joy; they are the ones who sit along the wall and do not join in the dance. The knights of infinity are dancers and possess elevation. They make the movements upward, and fall down again; and this too is no mean pastime, nor ungraceful to behold. But whenever they fall down and are not able at once to assume the posture, they vacillate in an instant and this vacillation shows that after all they are strangers in the world.”

You see, most of us want to be able to leap in life and when we fall and crumble up, have nobody see us, we say, “Oh, I’m okay—I’m fine.” We are afraid to share with the whole world that we are vulnerable, we are crying, that it isn’t okay here, but even in the not-okayness we are dancers—elevated. Do you feel that? Then vulnerability too becomes a courageous act.

 

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4 thoughts on “Inspirational Bits

  1. Jozeffa Greer

    What kind of world might we live in if there were no duality? Or on a more personal level, I start to wonder the ways that I, too, can become dualistic. I’ve heard about Carol Knox for so long that it is wonderful to hear just a snippet of her wisdom. Thanks for compiling her work.

    Reply
    1. Coy Cross

      The world we live in requires duality to meet everyday situations. For example, if we are crossing a street and a bus is coming, we wait until the bus passes before proceeding. That’s a dualistic decision. From a non-dualistic perspective, we understand that our true essence does not end when the body dies, so from the non-dualistic viewpoint it makes no difference if we step in front of the bus or not. The challenge becomes living in our physical, dualistic world and maintaining a non-dualistic view of who we really are. (I assume in your question you intended to say “ways that I, too, can become non-dualistic). A practice that helps me become more non-dualistic is to avoid labeling events in my life as either good or bad. When I do that then I respond to the label and often overlook evidence to the contrary. If I can follow Adyashanti’s teaching “I let everything be as it is” then I can more easily accept even painful events and respond to them with a clearer, non-judgmental mind. Does this make sense to you?

      Reply
  2. Scott Alexander

    Carol constantly talked about duality. I had many very personal discussions with her about duality. We talked about the choices that we make between either this or that. In the
    end it is the choices that we make between this or that that determines who we really are. In short we are what we do. Our lives are really about what we do in the moment….and what we do with each moment. The supreme truth is that our happiness is only in the moment. On a path to God ,God is not at the end of the path God is all over the path. God is in the moment. And since all we really have is this moment God is all we really have.

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