FORA.tv has been posting short pieces of the Science and Nonduality Conference that it hosted a few weeks ago. In this segment, Jerry Katz discusses the work of Albert Blackburn on "Now consciousness," a non-dualistic state in which the idea of the I and not-I does not exist.
Jerry Katz
In 1998 Jerry Katz started a movement he calls “people’s nonduality” which is known by an accessibility to nondual people and teachings with openness and friendliness to all traditions and perspectives, while the movement itself is not affiliated with any particular guru, teacher, tradition, supporter, or academic program. This people’s nonduality was initiated through the website Nonduality.com and the email forum Nonduality Salon (and other avenues later on). Milestones in Jerry’s spiritual biography include initiations into his realization as I Am, the dissolving of I Am, and the advent of people’s nonduality. He holds an M.S. in biology from the University of New Mexico and is editor of One: Essential Writings on Nonduality.
“I am interested in complete freedom from the self-created world of the ego, not in rearranging the pieces.” -Albert Blackburn
Albert Blackburn posed a simple question to J. Krishnamurti in 1944. Upon JK’s response, Blackburn’s psychological world fell apart. Ongoing periodic contact with Krishnamurti gave him opportunity to thoroughly investigate his new perception, which he came to call Now-Consciousness. Blackburn defined Now-Consciousness as “the ability to use the totality of the existing sense mechanism to perceive objectively and without bias, true relationships in any moment of time. It is a non-dualistic state in which the idea of the I and not-I does not exist. It is beyond the time-space continuum and therefore multidimensional. It is the interface between perception and recognition.” This talk tells about key encounters with J. Krishnamurti and mostly extracts the nuggets of Blackburn’s teaching of Now-Consciousness and how they bear on the theme of the Conference: Time. Blackburn wrote “This idea of time gives rise to the false ideas of postponement, spiritual growth, progress, a Savior, Gurus, the Path, and reincarnation as the ultimate postponement... Any expectation is the result of imagining myself somewhere other than where I am. It is dualistic. Complete attention is non-dualistic.” For thirty years Blackburn explored and wrote about Now-Consciousness or “the world beyond thought.” In 1974 he began teaching and giving talks throughout the U.S. and Canada. He died in 1987 at the age of 77. Unlike some nondualists of the 70s and 80s, Blackburn’s works did not transition broadly into the Internet era. Using material from his books Now Consciousness and Worlds Beyond Thought, as well as an audio selection, this talk introduces Blackburn to the current era.
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