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.
James' blog
Summary and transcript of this interview
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