The Great Expanse of Darkness

All revelation is born in the dark. When you let go of clutching onto the certainty of what you know and open your eyes like a newborn, as if for the very first time, you are surprised to find that the world you had imagined to be real was nothing more than a dream, one fabricated assumption after another. Any world, inner or outer, that you’ve constructed, which does not breathe of freedom, is too small for your belonging. ~ Adyashanti

The dark is a metaphor not only for the unknown, but also for the great expanse of nothingness from which all of creation arises. Adyashanti shows how deeper realms of enlightenment involve accessing subtle dimensions of the ever-present and immense dark ground of being. In addition, it involves embodying that realization by continuously and compassionately shining light on the infinite ways our human expression arises from the great darkness.

Topics Include:

• The Paradox of Sudden vs. Gradual Enlightenment
• High Delusions within Deep Realization
• Where the Absolute Meets the Relative
• The Dark Ground of Being
• How the Immense Darkness Holds You
• Being a Non-Egoic Redeeming Presence in the World
• The Unawakened Parts of Yourself
• Infinite Being and Becoming

Quotes:

“By stepping into the long-ignored silence of our aloneness and directing the light of our consciousness beyond the current frontier of our knowing, we allow the great unknown dimensions of life to find us and remain faithful to the work of our yearning.”

“You are here for two fundamental reasons: to be free, and to love in such a way that your presence here redeems the sorrow of life.”

“Always becoming isn’t a search for completeness if you’ve already found the completeness that’s always there. The becoming is the capacity to always embody that completeness more clearly, more compassionately, more wisely, more fully, without end.”

“All the people that I’ve seen in my life who seem to really live in a deep state of realization, in some way they are also resting in the always and already state of completeness, and always as human beings becoming. And they’re not clutching to either one. They’re not making final claims of arrival. They’re just getting on with the business of always being and always becoming.”

“If the heart of compassion is awakened, the very vision of wholeness and completeness turns back towards everything inside that has not recognized it. Nothing is left behind. Transcendence does not become a means of avoidance; it becomes a ground for compassionate engagement with every part of yourself that that light has not penetrated.”

Please Note: This recording was originally published in the download set: Silent Retreat Vol. 72 ~ Talks: Tahoe May 2019.

Recorded at Granlibakken Tahoe in Tahoe City, California on May 23, 2019.
© 2019 by Adyashanti. All rights reserved.