DISCOVERING OUR NATURAL WELL-BEING. As the name suggests, well-being is natural – that is, it’s a normal condition (if not an average one for most of humanity) and not just in the domain of some sages and saints. Our real shared nature is one of goodness, balance and harmony, where suffering is not imagined or dwelt upon. In truth, in nature, there is no such thing as “suffering”. There is, of course, pain, when an injury is inflicted, and grief in unnatural circumstances or when a loved one passes, but there is no necessary attachment of mind-made suffering to that pain in nature.
Our natural well-being finds its foundation in truth, reality, and love. Taken together, they form the ground of all our human and divine experience of life. And this grace of living in peace and contentment is what it means to be naturally “happy”. By “contentment” we mean contentment with the content of now – whatever that might be in the moment –confusion, anger, pleasure, pain, fear…bills! All this is mirrored and embraced in the aware silence of innate well-being.
James Waite is a writer, designer, and businessman in Berkeley, CA. He discovers and shares this natural well-being in daily aware living at www.nondualityliving.com. He is the author of two books: “Real, Whole, Here, and Happy!” (Free @ NDL) and “Fading in the Light”. A new book, “LIVING HERE…Discovering our Natural Well-Being” is emerging. He meets weekly with friends in the San Francisco Bay area to explore aware living and you are invited to contact him (see below).
He invites your inquiries at nondualityliving@gmail.com. or bewelltlc@gmail.com.
Interview conducted 6/1/2013
YouTube Video Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Introduction and Non-Duality Insights
- 00:04:55 – A Journey of Awakening
- 00:09:12 – The Beginning of the Spiritual Journey
- 00:13:16 – Seeking Structure and Method
- 00:17:17 – Meeting Adyashanti and the Awakening Experience
- 00:20:43 – Recognizing the Forever Nature
- 00:24:50 – The Innocent Misplacement of Identity
- 00:29:02 – Hatred Towards God
- 00:33:52 – Blossoming of the Heart
- 00:37:36 – Love without Ego
- 00:42:08 – Perceptions and the Stuff of Our Being
- 00:46:22 – Resting in Awareness
- 00:50:21 – The Practice of Self-Remembering
- 00:54:45 – Paradoxical Nature of Levels and Stages
- 00:58:22 – Recognition of Body-Mind Experience
- 01:03:13 – Belief in Reincarnation
- 01:08:06 – The Mystery of Absolute Truth
- 01:11:54 – Interpenetration of the Absolute and the Relative
- 01:16:16 – The Fear Born of Duality
- 01:20:17 – The Illusion of Leaving and Doing
- 01:24:24 – The Value of Monastic Life
- 01:28:45 – The value of suffering and the intelligence of life
- 01:32:57 – The King and the Minister’s Wisdom
- 01:35:40 – The Meaning of Life and the Cosmic Unfolding
- 01:39:36 – Exploring Life and Death with Michel de Montaigne
- 01:42:40 – Embracing the Reality of Death
- 01:46:08 – The Treasure of Knowing Reality
- 01:50:04 – The Path of Relieving Suffering
- 01:53:54 – The Well-being of the Boomer Generation and the Future of Humanity
- 01:58:07 – Ending Remarks and Contact Information
- 02:01:19 – Sign up for Email Notifications
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