Adyashanti: The Paradox of Unity and Spiritual Autonomy

Adyashanti talks about the changes that arise when the psychological self is seen for what it is, when the sorrow of becoming falls away into effortless being, when the heart starts to come online and the will is finally understood by its absence. A deep paradox arises, the understanding that we are one, and the realization that each individual is unique in itself and unspeakably valuable. This spiritual autonomy has an endless capacity to express itself through its humanity and can become a redemptive presence in the world, helping us all remember who we are.
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Science And NonDuality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in personal experience. We come together in an openhearted exploration to explore our individual and collective evolution. New ways of being emerge. We embody our interconnectedness and celebrate our humanity.

[@stixnfeet7818]

"They way you see things determines what you see." Truth!

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

I hope people hear the 'warning' between the lines, One big difference between Adya and many other teachers, is his willingness to go into the difficulty that is often attached to 'waking up'. I experienced getting 'lost' into nothingness . After initial months & months of bliss & union I got 'lost' in society around me , Though i saw the futility of my former life,( chasing money , career & stuff ) . I also didn't know what to 'do' within a society focused on having those things. & without the will to chase money, I started to feel fear. Because being awaken doesn't mean the willingness to be homeless.( Especially when your middel aged LOL) We can not all make money writing books & giving satsangs,. Anyway It took many, many years time to find a new balance. For a long time believing I was some kind of exception who done something 'wrong' , until I heard & met people who had similar experiences. ( Adya being one of them)..

[@Aylon5D]

What is your new balance? How did it turn out? Where you activly and conciously changing your life/job/interaction with society or would you say it was a process and adjustments came more naturaly/gradualy? After some real intense and "reality" shifting experiences i am finding myself in similar position.

[@bowmhoust]

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." Human society as it is unfolding is nature. It's just as much nature as everything else. The internet is nature. Power Plants are nature. The Rat Race is nature. Isn't it possible to appreciate it as reality just as much as trees, birds and waves?

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@@bowmhoust I'm talking about, Human society , not infrastructure, Chopping wood, etc is like doing the laundry & cooking. No problems there, It's the illogical ego driven society that made no sense to me anymore. I just could not function

[@bowmhoust]

​@@spiritualanarchist8162 Let me put it this way: labelling human society as "ego driven" and "bad" is creating yet another duality, yet another concept, yet another judgement that blinds us to the truth. Another "us vs them" Which , ironically, is just what "we spiritual people" accuse "society" of. It is what it is. It is here. It is infinitely complex, infinitely intervowen with all other aspects of existence and part of it all just like everything else.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

*@@bowmhoust Yes I understand what you try to tell me. However This is how it was for me. Not ' how it should have been'. I did not create concepts or placed judgemenst. , There was no identity left to*focus on. I use words like égo driven society etc to explain things after they happend, Now the point of my comment was to share my experience, *and that there are many people in similar situations i have been in.

[@claudelebel49]

One thing I have noticed in myself: it is easy to fall into arrogance if one's awakening is of the mind only

[@sandrag8656]

Totally agree. I experienced it for some years myself. Adya was the one who closed the gap between transzendence and living, and guided me out of this arrogance... I feel so much gratitude beeing able to life "in both realms" now. Took another few years. 😅

[@burnalog7861]

I read and listened to a lot of enlightened masters in the past 20 years. They all have the same message but Adyashanti has this amazing gift to verbalize it somehow perfectly for me. It's almost spooky how he exactly addresses the issues and struggles I have and how his words evoke profound change in me. So far Nisgardatta Maharaj was my most loved master but lately Adayshanti's talks really work on me. This is another amazing talk.

[@karolisz815]

Listening to Adya goes along so well with reading I Am That!

[@burnalog7861]

@@karolisz815 I recently discovered the Non-Duality Podcat and they talk a lot about Nisargadatta and I Am That and my sense is they really know deeply what they talk about.

[@malinaftali0207]

Still, life don't make sense

[@jeausy]

lets be friends!

[@tatianaalbuquerque]

Yes. He has a similar effect on me.

[@claudelebel49]

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves." Nisargadatta Maharaj

[@RickWilleyOMC]

Lately that kinda how I feel. This unique quirky weird guy that somehow exits yet kinda doesn't is just opening space for Love with life in all it's "fucked up-ness " hilarious loving laughter is my "new reality " I had a "lightning bolt strike" (metaphorically) out of the blue EXTREMELY PROFOUND Awakening experience in 2012 which lasted on & off for 2 weeks. Now, understand that at THAT TIME I had NEVER heard of Nonduality! I had to Google "fastest path to God" and if I remember correctly Mooji and Gangaji showed up somewhere in my search. Anyway.... From that time to this, I spent searching , and seeking listening to ANY teachers I could find from any source! Science, Religious text from all over, A COURSE IN MIRACLES and even became ordained as an ACIM minister! 🤣 Nothing worked out! Then I heard of Richard Lang and The headless way. And after about a week of practice I haven't been the same.. THANK GOD . But something -as Adya points to- feels unfinished. The seeking energy is pretty much gone replaced by a curiosity of what's going to go missing next? Surfing the ride!!

[@claudelebel49]

@@RickWilleyOMC thank you for sharing Rick. It is and has been a bumpy ride but clarity is gaining the upper hand.

[@rogerlevy9562]

I have followed Adya for over a decade and cannot get enough of his teachings. They’ve rescued me from confusion and despair.

[@clinttoner6239]

I am touched by this man ' s humanity and kindness. He is truly a " redemptive presence." 🌸

[@awakenwithalexp]

You are not listening to a man here

[@spenfriend2]

Adya has been my teacher/friend for over 16 yrs. and between him and Mukti I dont find a need for any other teachers. Having said that, we are truly blessed to have many dozens of wonderful spiritual guides who can express the inexpressible , and we only have to find the one(s) who resonate with where we are at in this moment of awakening.

[@Katrinagreen5252]

The greatest teacher of this age. 🙏

[@rayamarante4768]

The paradox is integrated into who we are...Human - Beings. Thank you, Adya!

[@WindBendsSteel]

Truly enlightened being, he not only understands reality, but also the intricate web of concepts and illusions that generate our social and interactive condition. And he's able to manufacture ideal forms of thought and language in order to communicate that understanding.

[@orlandocontreras4768]

Adyashanti is one of the best teachers out there.

[@TheGoodfella2012]

The entire video is great but if you really wanted to get to the part the title of the video suggests > 28:52

[@robertdunlevy6011]

This guy nails it. Truly enlightened being. Thank you!

[@evaesp1559]

This is so brilliant. We are so blessed to have Adya among us. Thank you..

[@riteshbhatia7690]

Wow! Sometimes you just come across a spiritual talk so profound that you can spend a lifetime trying to appreciate it with all your being. What have I heard today What words to describe really deep and complex and yet so simple territories of being. ❤

[@namelessone3394]

Exactly never ask a true spiritual master. The master is at a constant state of arrival. Not from somewhere, not going anywhere yet watch the clouds go by and be the water that flows unclutched. Letting all clouds rain bliss upon that which is bliss and needs not even bliss, for it is that in its own. "what do I do now?" They will say keep investigating yourself. It will come to You by your own power.. What do I do?

[@Johnphilips1234]

I’ve been stuck in the space of awakened o the level of mind and when I heard him talk about how that becomes ‘dry’ after a while it really resonated. Very powerful talk.

[@kathleenlustman970]

What a blessing to have a teacher that I am sooo grateful for..15 years...flowers coming out of his mouth as he speaks!!

[@slowwco]

Adyashanti quote highlights from this video: “I like to call the ego a ‘psychological self’ because it's a self that's created through our mind and the way that our body and our emotions interact with the thoughts, and the beliefs, and the images that we have-and all these ideas, images, thoughts, memory-both conscious and unconscious-move in such a way that it creates this sense of a separate self.” “A lot of spirituality is often trying to dismantle our attachment to that psychological self.” “Awakening is a fundamental shift in the way we perceive and feel about ourself-what and who we take ourselves to be.” “Often one of the first fundamental realizations that one will have is the perception and the sense of being awareness rather than being someone or something that is utilizing awareness or generating awareness-the perception that the awareness is actually much more what you are.” “One of the themes is going beyond the identifications with different levels or dimensions of the experience of separation and self. That's the journey of realization, of awakening.” “(The psychological self) is the unconscious orienting principle to everything-down to the the energy that motivates us, the meaning that we derive in our life, the purpose that we experience as either fulfilling or failing to fulfill. It's a profound orienting principle. As you start to see through it enough, all of a sudden that which you oriented around-and you only know how much you oriented around it when it's no longer really there to orient around-you see it was much more than it appeared.” “The will is one of the primary things that starts to disappear-the experience of will, of wanting to make this happen. The will is what drives most of the experience of the psychological self, and part of what will happen with any deep realization is the will will start to be diminished because the self that it is based on and flowing from and giving life to is seen through. You start to have a different operating system that you're working from. The will is one of those things that's hard to understand clearly until it's no longer really there. You know it when it's absent, strangely, much more than you know what it is when it's present.” “Spiritual autonomy is an embracing of a paradox: that the absolute one and the one of your very human existence are, at the deepest level of being, the same … If you experience it as your own nature, if it's authentic realization, you realize it's the true nature of everybody else … That's the beauty of truth. At this deep level of being, we're touching upon the deepest subjective experience of being that all beings share in common.” “We have a deep instinct to realize deep unity or the one, and at the same time that we are the one, every part of creation is uniquely itself … The absolute, the ground of being that we all share in common, is essential, but also every way that absolute nature manifests is totally unique unto itself … Non-separation and profound autonomous individuality experienced at the same moment … It's an embracing of this paradox of the realization of being and the completeness of that, and the endless capacity to become through your humanness what you've experienced deep within your being, to express the completeness that you realize.”

[@life13525]

"...an endless process, an endless capacity for us to more fully and richly embody our deepest realiziations..." - yes, and the challenge of our existential aloneness; non-separation and profound autonomous individuality experienced at the same moment - beautiful

[@mccoggsgregor8059]

One of the Great Lights in the world - a true Sage.

[@aylen3322]

Hes such a treasure. Thank god for Adyashanti....:)

[@foxdenham]

Perfect timing Adya! My heart seems to be dissolving into this redemptive presence. All I can apparently do is surrender to this mystery and it's unfolding, in and around me. Thank you for your encouragement.

[@dorotheaderickson6052]

Adya has an opened heart, and he speaks from it.

[@bridietulloch1520]

Yes, the paradox. To transcend the separate self and surrender to what is. The ‘will’ does disappear, but that doesn’t mean that our lives don’t change, they can change very dramatically when we surrender. It seems to create space for life to happen and to be more fully engaged in this happening. Perhaps it’s to do with the ‘Will’ dissolving and being replaced with a deep sense of gratitude for what is.

[@NidhinVinod-tt3tb]

I want everyone to come forward to help Adi translating all videos of him into all languages in the whole world, It will be the greatest thing that we can do to the humanity.

[@jonashjerpe7421]

Everyone one to come forward? I get your point of course, but I cannot help thinking the single pointed flood that you welcome. Be careful for what you wish! It's late. Please forget my bad sense of humour tonight, my friend.

[@fil5099]

it is forgiven, for me as well ;)

[@titelmund2670]

When all of the paradoxes of existence come crashing into you at once...

[@zorro248]

Such clarity! What a gift. Deep gratitude and love.

[@mysticgarage1243]

The aloneness experience is what many call solitude.

[@freshprince8919]

Thank God for Adyanshanti for this wonderful and timely explanation on this topic

[@jojensen684]

This was amazing. I suddenly understood what I thought I'd understood before, and that understanding was on every level. It was so interesting that I didn't even fall asleep, and believe me, that's amazing as well!

[@acsentu8]

Love all of his talks. One of a kind Teacher. Thank you!

[@happylifeSteph]

To me one of the best teachers … Adya is love ♥️🫶🙏

[@BlackGirlHairDiaries]

He brings tears to my eyes

[@elizabethwinsor-strumpetqueen]

"You " bring tears to your eyes .....whatever You is !!

[@wahshanchou2641]

Thanks Adya for being so inspiring and profound.

[@helenormes404]

Awesome... i have watched this over and over, amazing what Adya evokes in me .Redemptive love he is indeed.

[@davidsweeney111]

beautiful talk, resonates with me, there is no time when I was listening :)

[@sewaksidhu7027]

Simply loved its simplicity & hard hitting truth- being enlightened as Unique Individual within the One-ness with creation as a whole !!!

[@tatianaalbuquerque]

Amazing wonderful share. Deeply felt it in my heart and soul and definetely touched me for the importance for of how unique we at the same time of being intimate with everything will allow everything to go to their natural place.

[@carolsarahhuve4083]

Gratitude. I was hanging in those spaces of paradoxes those last days...This is exactly what I needed to connect back. Merci Adyashanti.

[@somedude1566]

Precisely what I needed to hear. Thank you.

[@pursuitofspirit]

Such a beautiful talk. Love Adya

[@bangaliyogi]

Thank you ! Namaste !

[@gideonsalbato5328]

wow, just stumbled on this video. this is really helpful guidance

[@ann4483]

so simple profound inspiring thanks!

[@ankurgupta3013]

Insight for me from this talk is that Our Presence or Being or Soul or Completeness with its heart open should not passively resign from life, In fact, This Being out of Love can express itself in the world to provide resolution or completeness to any situation it encounters in the world. Its expression can be used to provide resolution to situations like its own bodily needs, help the people it care like friends and family members, and the whole of humanity with a great balance between Oneness and individual expression of that Oneness.

[@rickipaddon6962]

Truly Beautiful, Adya 💜

[@misawainwright383]

Wonderful - thank you

[@LilachLavy]

This is the perfect talk...

[@titelmund2670]

Exactly!

[@louisar4227]

So beautiful

[@vamkhivlauj7132]

He's a great speaker.

[@Kristallijn33]

Human Beings are not to blame for whatever happened on this Divine Jewel. All Life forms throughout the Universe and Beyond are Completely Baffled what on Earth 🌎 the purpose of this Creation of Light and Life has been bestowed upon game and play...

[@zazzyz4558]

Pronunciation: aww-tonomy. Great talk!

[@markbrad123]

Usehima developed Aikido as a style of spiritual development. That may help in exploring autonomy. Guessing autonomy like that is a dance of joyous effort coming from attentive space rather than anything stiff or driven.

[@helenormes404]

I love you Adya you are awesome

[@Drangus135]

Beautiful

[@anaugas2021]

Thank you.

[@loejewis]

Smashed it adya. Again!

[@bangaliyogi]

Namaskar ! Thanks for sharing !

[@ajsdfkljasdfisfda98]

Adya spreads love throughout the world thank you

[@helenormes404]

Awesome, as ever xx

[@tarueskola5780]

Thank you

[@Misslotusification]

22:45: Will disappears when the separate self is seen through.

[@Bassywassy20]

3:33 He didn't even flinch in the face of an earthquake. That's a true Master.

[@edzardpiltz6348]

Bas Waaijer, don't you think that it is also possible that the cameraman acidentally bumpt into his camera?😉

[@RippleDrop.]

That was camera moving.

[@survivingawakening700]

That's a good one 😂😂

[@jessicarice1709]

Blessed be everyone 🥰

[@cashlaineharles2692]

💚💚💚💚💚 WOW TY!!!!!

[@claudelebel49]

The Perfection of Being 💓 Already and forever perfect.

[@selimbenmrad3206]

Adya

[@SumoSune-c3q]

It´s never want to be known to it´s self by for who as in any one to be to know. It´s want it´s dreams to be true even for you. Who Ever YOU ARE..... So let it be. .... Done to as for it´s self. Egoe´s- Who Knows. God Knows who Knows it´s selfs shows-. As by the wonder to wonder as it´s ever by ever.

[@rakisabellydance]

Yes!

[@jordangould1541]

Is there anyone who can honestly say they have ‘transcended the self’ or reached some exalted state of enlightenment?

[@thisweelife6880]

at times

[@m.castillo2757]

I doubt it.

[@sanekabc]

It just happens. it is not a choice. At no step of the way is there a choice in true realization.

[@dlhdigress]

❤

[@pedrosanchezdelmonton9995]

Not always but sometimes I have problems to understand what he means

[@v3g499]

💜💜

[@TeganGordon]

This was great except at the end .. what does "natural" even mean?

[@fernandaadelaidecosta9488]

Olá gostaria de saber se será possível fazer tradução para português

[@NMROSTA]

Wisdom is amazing but i find this audio tour a bit anoying.. I mean the setup is so well done. Good light, cool bacround etc... ;) ah, never mind..

[@epilefchannel9424]

that "all" al 30:47 hit me hard lol

[@thegodsquad9279]

does anyone know the other speaker, catherine, he references?

[@lindarichard9651]

Cynthia Bourgeault

[@onekin7025]

yes the body too is the buddha or christ or elohim. elohim is of course the reality where god is not one but five eternal invincible light beings beyond and larger than the universe many times. there is a realness to the unity we share with our kin. we uplift the universe. we create the energy in our unity meditation that is the energy that creates universes. sometimes we interact with pleasant mature people or individual beings we are extremely spiritually attracted to and interested in being in unity with. we are discovering our individual true nature and we are discovering our unified true nature . i am incubating a consciousness in my sacred room. to release for ever everyone to flourish from. a secret weapon to be released in the future when it is powerful and strong. that catches mahakranti everything of god fire. om nama shivai. we have all the tools now dispensed by all the greatest masters/ avatars of eternity. all the stars have descended to be present on this world and have learned the practical functional human experience as an exoteric prelude to our deep inner practices of life oneness harmony gatherings of love refreshment . we are all growing secretly in our rooms ever connected like the great mycelium web of all our conscious connection in perfect individuality ready for the unity of love filling our wold with peace. Jesus was perfect peace with others and love and respect of others to share the gift he was there to share in the perfect perfection to prepare the way for the star beings, for us to descend and create our kingdom of deep inner divine friendships.

[@kevinmai2947]

18:30 - loss of personal will and no orientation 23:25 - suchness = god in everything. Physicality. Suchness 26:35 - heart based vs everything is an illusion 40:40 - challenging process of finding your spiritual autonomy. Jesus 42:40 - autonomy grows out of the intimacy of the spiritual heart

[@szzlng_hot]

This guy is so fucking relatable.

[@hgracern]

Adya and you are not two. 💓

[@fcodin]

Transcript ?

[@Duck72432]

So how I get this heart online? lost the password

[@pouraxial]

Is that talk available for download? I'd love to always have this.

[@knowsoulnow5851]

Qne way is you can open your own KZbin account and collect anything posted on KZbin. As long as it isn't removed by the 'host' you'll have it. You can decide to keep everything private. You don't need to post anything to have an account.

[@burnalog7861]

I use a free app called TubeMate that downloads it to my phone so I can listen offline

[@anaugas2021]

Join us in this amazing ONLINE RETREAT with Pamela Wilson starting in June 2019 : tinyurl.com/y5s58ly5 Register here : tinyurl.com/yysakeez

[@annano333]

If you click on the three dots ... one of the choices that shows up is an auto-generated transcript. It's not perfect, but there you are!

[@CappnRock]

Hahahaha why does the camera zoom keep switching back and forth

[@dwai963]

Non-Duality can't exist without duality

[@jonashjerpe7421]

Concerning all the praise that Adya recieves. This talk was quite good, I agree, so my comment below is more general and in particular related to his retreats. Often Adya is great. But he is no God. Repeatedly he takes the opportunity, after a brief question is asked, to speak endlessly about his favourite topic of the day. On such occasions I am often inclined to think that s/he who asked the question would be way more helped if Adya engaged in a brief dialogue and asked one or two follow up questions. I have asked Adya questions on retreats and witnessed him talking for another 10 minutes feeling that he did not at all get what I tried to convey. Generally I do not have difficulties expressing myself publicly. Repeatedly Adya seems to be above relating directly to the individual at issue, rather preferring to speak about spirituality in general sense. But right, he is often surprisingly good, but far from always. I guess I emphasize this point because Adyas followers often celebrate their beloved guru no matter what. Wake up. He is still only a human being. Being perfectly uncritical does not do Adya, his sanga, spirituality or yourself any service. I am confident that Adya is strong enough to recieve some realistic and well intended criticism. I have been to a few of his retreat. They are generally great, but the way attendences constantly strives to please him is really childish. It's a sign of adulthood that human beings are capable of meeting each other on rather equal terms, thereby recognizing the humanity of all, although not denying the strenghts and the weaknesses of anyone. Idealizations are simply delusional. Well, Adya is indeed special but he is not above legitimate criticism. Pace great, Adya can also be enormously self-centered (endlessly repetitive and preoccupied with his own voice) and arrogant (his tendency to laugh as he speaks about the samsaric condition of human life, when he is the only enlightened being in a hall of several hundred suffering seekers). Perhaps I am an oddball but I sincerely believe that Adya and his cause would be better served by a more balanced reception of his work. The praise is often justified, but it is the lack of reservations let alone criticism that is troubling my sleep. Namaste

[@lynnbarlow837]

Yes...thank you....pandering to teachers can be their downfall. Only the ego/mind needs praise and constant reassurance.

[@burnalog7861]

Hi Jonas, I followed and listened to a lot of enlightened masters over the last 20 years and they all helped me. Trust me, Adyashanti is the real deal and I am not of his sanga and relatively new to his teachings. He knows what he is talking about and he knows how to express it. This man is a real gift to humanity. If certain things don't feel right for you - again, trust me, it has nothing to do with him.

[@grzegorzbugajak6248]

Jonas, why does it bother you what kinf of reception Adyashanti receives?

[@jonashjerpe7421]

@@joajoajb Nice comment!

[@Phantom.1]

So your dualistic ego has a grievance with a manifestation of Brahman, which you also are. You’re like a puppet complaining about another puppet on the puppeteer’s other hand. Well, I do that too, so I’m guilty as well!

[@jkphsgme8b]

I refer to that contraction as my “no knot.” Helps me befriend if it has a name.

[@gurugeorge]

Ha! Still the boss :)

[@infinitepossibilities337]

Interesting Spiritual egotism in this comment section. If anyone feels the need to convey to another that they are more awake than another, isn’t that missing the whole point?

[@smokeytaboo1756]

If you're noticing or looking for that in the comments, might be something to examine within yourself (;

[@MegaHealer]

30:04

[@kaydurbin943]

NHL

[@xandermartinez6374]

Catch thirtythree

[@highhuber]

He also doesn't plagiarize others words and speak them as if they were his own.

[@serenajetelina2189]

Is there a transcript of this talk?

[@kathleenclarke828]

hmmmmm.....???????.....there once was an emperor....?????....but by the # of positive comments...thinking i am densely unenlightened.....or not......:)