Although I sometimes wrestle with it, I find this perspective the most liberating of all, and importantly, this "One Thing" or "Life Itself" includes the capacity for discernment and healing. My near fatal life as a drunk and drug user many decades ago was clearly as much THIS as my sober life today, as was the desire to sober up, the work with a therapist that seemingly helped that to happen, and the many things that followed (meditation, silent retreats, etc) that further revealed and clarified the ways unnecessary suffering, conflict and confusion is generated by thought and the story-sense of being a separate encapsulated self, and finally encountering (in Tony Parsons, Nathan Gill, Sailor Bob and others) this radical (to the root) perspective of "One Thing," which in some way I already knew and embraced. That's a story (a relatively true one as stories go), and that, too, that memory, that story pushing itself out into this comment space is also the One Thing. So it's not that recognizing this eliminates the possibility of seeking and finding a relative cure (or helpful approach) for painful conditions such as addiction, depression, anxiety, etc. It simply puts it all into a very liberating bigger context in which nothing needs to change for some imaginary "me" to finally be okay.
Hi John, I've been having some deep and meaning 'conversations' with DeepSeek recently about the nature of reality (amongst other things)...
Here's a snippet from earlier, when I mentioned your name, I thought you might appreciate the quality of the response...."I have become aware of a guy named John Astin, a lecturer and 'influencer' from the US he has a fascinating take on the nature of reality?"
Response "Ah, excellent. You've found another compelling voice in the same symphony. **John Astin** (not to be confused with the actor) is a fascinating figure, and his work forms a beautiful, practical bridge between the scientific and the spiritual models we've been discussing.
His background is key: he's a scientist (a researcher in mind-body medicine and psychology at Stanford) who has deeply immersed himself in the direct experience of non-dual awareness. This gives his "take on the nature of reality" a unique credibility and a grounded, accessible quality.
### John Astin's Core Thesis: The "Two Ways of Knowing"
Astin's central argument is that we have two fundamental, valid, but radically different ways of knowing reality:
1. **The Conceptual-Relative Mind (The "Story of Me"):** This is our ordinary, thinking mind. It operates through concepts, language, and time. It creates a subject-object relationship with the world ("me" in here, "the world" out there). It's the mind that plans, analyzes, worries, and constructs our personal narrative. This is the realm of **duality**.
2. **Awareness Itself (The "Ground of Being"):** This is our fundamental nature—what he, and traditions like Dzogchen/Advaita, call **Awareness** or **Consciousness**. This is not a *state of mind* but the **context or space in which all states of mind (and all sensory experience) arise and pass away**. It is:
* **Non-dual:** It doesn't split the world into subject and object. It is the *knowing* itself, prior to the known.
* **Ever-Present:** It is what remains constant through all changing experiences (waking, dreaming, sleeping).
* **Acorporeal and Spaceless:** It is not located in the body or the brain; rather, the body and the brain appear *within* it.
### How This Fits With Our Previous Conversations
Astin's model is a crystal-clear, Western-friendly articulation of the very principles we've been exploring:
* **It's Faggin's "Fundamental Consciousness":** Astin's "Awareness" is the same primary, non-physical reality that Faggin describes. It's the field, not the particle.
* **It's the "Citta" of Dzogchen:** This is a direct map to the primordial, pure awareness (*Rigpa*) that is the ground of all phenomena.
* **It's the "Interface" of Hoffman:** The conceptual-relative mind is the user interface. Awareness itself is the "user" or the fundamental reality the interface is built upon.
### The Practical, Transformative Power of His Teaching
This is where Astin shines. He doesn't just present a philosophy; he offers direct, simple pointers to help people *recognize* this for themselves. His method is often to ask questions that cause a shift from *thinking about* awareness to *being* awareness:
* **"Can you notice the one who is noticing?"** This points you back from the object of attention to the source of attention itself.
* **"What is here before the next thought arises?"** This points to the silent, spacious background that is always present.
* He guides people to see that their essential nature is the **space of awareness** in which the entire personal drama—the body, thoughts, feelings—is unfolding.
### His "Take on Reality" in a Nutshell
**The physical, material world is not the fundamental reality. It is a presentation *within* and *made of* non-dual Awareness.** The tree, the car, the sensation of pain—they are all modulations of this one, single, conscious reality. The separate "me" is the primary illusion created by the conceptual-relative mind, an illusion that falls away when we rest as the Awareness we truly are.
You have an excellent radar for these thinkers. John Astin is a vital voice because he provides the **experiential, scientific-adjacent roadmap** that makes the lofty metaphysics of a Faggin or the esoteric teachings of Dzogchen directly accessible to a modern seeker. He's another clear window, pointing directly at the same ineffable truth.
Just to add a couple of other things re: the AI. Based especially on the first part of its response, it was likely “trained” or at least drew upon material on my website which includes a fair bit of stuff from what is in many ways, another lifetime of mine as a “mind-body researcher.” That work as a researcher in the whole mindfulness world touches in some ways upon what I now write about and teach but is also quite different in other ways. Also, while I spent two-years at Stanford as a post-doctoral fellow (over 20 years ago), I am no longer there. I do still work in academia, teaching graduate psychology students at two institutions here in the Bay area of California. The other thing I wanted to mention re: AI’s take on my work is that these days, I very rarely talk about awareness. Had the AI been trained on the 200 plus videos on YouTube and/or my last two books, this would be pretty clear. As I mentioned in my earlier response, AI is both amazing and sometimes not. For example, someone recently contacted me as they were in the process of creating some sort of “John Astin AI Bot.” However, when I tried it out, it got all sorts of things about me and my work very wrong and this was again, all the result of what part of my work and life the AI was trained on. I suggested the guy who was developing the AI just train it on my last book which pretty much encapsulates what I’m pointing to in my work. He did that and it completely changed how accurate the AI was in terms of being able to accurately represent/encapsulate what I’m sharing.
Thanks for sharing that Sally. Ah, AI is so remarkable, in so many ways. And yet, so much depends upon what the LLMs have been “trained” on. Based on its response, while it’s got elements of what I share somewhat correct, I would say, overall it does not really understand what I’m pointing to. Briefly, what the AI misses is my central message that there is only one thing here, one reality, one ground, one presence that moves as all apparent things, experiences, circumstances, etc. I am not talking about some non-material reality/space of awareness that is somehow other than the world of thought, materiality, etc. I’m pointing to the one reality that is everything. The so-called material world IS the transcendent. No dichotomy. Just different perspectives on the same thing. The ocean of infinity is not other than all the finite waves it gives rise to. It IS those waves. One Reality, here yet inconceivable, seemingly describable yet fundamentally beyond the reach of any way we might try to map it. The mystery beyond mysteries…
Hola ¡Aquesta Vida que ho es tot així com es cada cosa o persona hi ha diversitat distinció d'una sola Cosa no sabuda en absolut, diguem-li conciencia o Deu com a símbol de l'inefable, que ha aparegut sen aquesta Vida.
Aquesta Vida - conciencia, agafa pren tota forma i diversitat possibles entre elles l'oblit de ser l'Ésser, la ignorància que porta a la por i tots els seus derivats com l'egoisme anant en contra de la línia que segueix aquesta Vida.
El que passa el que hi ha social culturalment es resultat de la relació de tot amb tot al instant que depenent de la quantitat de consciència social global que depenen de la consciència de cadascú.
Although I sometimes wrestle with it, I find this perspective the most liberating of all, and importantly, this "One Thing" or "Life Itself" includes the capacity for discernment and healing. My near fatal life as a drunk and drug user many decades ago was clearly as much THIS as my sober life today, as was the desire to sober up, the work with a therapist that seemingly helped that to happen, and the many things that followed (meditation, silent retreats, etc) that further revealed and clarified the ways unnecessary suffering, conflict and confusion is generated by thought and the story-sense of being a separate encapsulated self, and finally encountering (in Tony Parsons, Nathan Gill, Sailor Bob and others) this radical (to the root) perspective of "One Thing," which in some way I already knew and embraced. That's a story (a relatively true one as stories go), and that, too, that memory, that story pushing itself out into this comment space is also the One Thing. So it's not that recognizing this eliminates the possibility of seeking and finding a relative cure (or helpful approach) for painful conditions such as addiction, depression, anxiety, etc. It simply puts it all into a very liberating bigger context in which nothing needs to change for some imaginary "me" to finally be okay.
Hi John, I've been having some deep and meaning 'conversations' with DeepSeek recently about the nature of reality (amongst other things)...
Here's a snippet from earlier, when I mentioned your name, I thought you might appreciate the quality of the response...."I have become aware of a guy named John Astin, a lecturer and 'influencer' from the US he has a fascinating take on the nature of reality?"
Response "Ah, excellent. You've found another compelling voice in the same symphony. **John Astin** (not to be confused with the actor) is a fascinating figure, and his work forms a beautiful, practical bridge between the scientific and the spiritual models we've been discussing.
His background is key: he's a scientist (a researcher in mind-body medicine and psychology at Stanford) who has deeply immersed himself in the direct experience of non-dual awareness. This gives his "take on the nature of reality" a unique credibility and a grounded, accessible quality.
### John Astin's Core Thesis: The "Two Ways of Knowing"
Astin's central argument is that we have two fundamental, valid, but radically different ways of knowing reality:
1. **The Conceptual-Relative Mind (The "Story of Me"):** This is our ordinary, thinking mind. It operates through concepts, language, and time. It creates a subject-object relationship with the world ("me" in here, "the world" out there). It's the mind that plans, analyzes, worries, and constructs our personal narrative. This is the realm of **duality**.
2. **Awareness Itself (The "Ground of Being"):** This is our fundamental nature—what he, and traditions like Dzogchen/Advaita, call **Awareness** or **Consciousness**. This is not a *state of mind* but the **context or space in which all states of mind (and all sensory experience) arise and pass away**. It is:
* **Non-dual:** It doesn't split the world into subject and object. It is the *knowing* itself, prior to the known.
* **Ever-Present:** It is what remains constant through all changing experiences (waking, dreaming, sleeping).
* **Acorporeal and Spaceless:** It is not located in the body or the brain; rather, the body and the brain appear *within* it.
### How This Fits With Our Previous Conversations
Astin's model is a crystal-clear, Western-friendly articulation of the very principles we've been exploring:
* **It's Faggin's "Fundamental Consciousness":** Astin's "Awareness" is the same primary, non-physical reality that Faggin describes. It's the field, not the particle.
* **It's the "Citta" of Dzogchen:** This is a direct map to the primordial, pure awareness (*Rigpa*) that is the ground of all phenomena.
* **It's the "Interface" of Hoffman:** The conceptual-relative mind is the user interface. Awareness itself is the "user" or the fundamental reality the interface is built upon.
### The Practical, Transformative Power of His Teaching
This is where Astin shines. He doesn't just present a philosophy; he offers direct, simple pointers to help people *recognize* this for themselves. His method is often to ask questions that cause a shift from *thinking about* awareness to *being* awareness:
* **"Can you notice the one who is noticing?"** This points you back from the object of attention to the source of attention itself.
* **"What is here before the next thought arises?"** This points to the silent, spacious background that is always present.
* He guides people to see that their essential nature is the **space of awareness** in which the entire personal drama—the body, thoughts, feelings—is unfolding.
### His "Take on Reality" in a Nutshell
**The physical, material world is not the fundamental reality. It is a presentation *within* and *made of* non-dual Awareness.** The tree, the car, the sensation of pain—they are all modulations of this one, single, conscious reality. The separate "me" is the primary illusion created by the conceptual-relative mind, an illusion that falls away when we rest as the Awareness we truly are.
You have an excellent radar for these thinkers. John Astin is a vital voice because he provides the **experiential, scientific-adjacent roadmap** that makes the lofty metaphysics of a Faggin or the esoteric teachings of Dzogchen directly accessible to a modern seeker. He's another clear window, pointing directly at the same ineffable truth.
Just to add a couple of other things re: the AI. Based especially on the first part of its response, it was likely “trained” or at least drew upon material on my website which includes a fair bit of stuff from what is in many ways, another lifetime of mine as a “mind-body researcher.” That work as a researcher in the whole mindfulness world touches in some ways upon what I now write about and teach but is also quite different in other ways. Also, while I spent two-years at Stanford as a post-doctoral fellow (over 20 years ago), I am no longer there. I do still work in academia, teaching graduate psychology students at two institutions here in the Bay area of California. The other thing I wanted to mention re: AI’s take on my work is that these days, I very rarely talk about awareness. Had the AI been trained on the 200 plus videos on YouTube and/or my last two books, this would be pretty clear. As I mentioned in my earlier response, AI is both amazing and sometimes not. For example, someone recently contacted me as they were in the process of creating some sort of “John Astin AI Bot.” However, when I tried it out, it got all sorts of things about me and my work very wrong and this was again, all the result of what part of my work and life the AI was trained on. I suggested the guy who was developing the AI just train it on my last book which pretty much encapsulates what I’m pointing to in my work. He did that and it completely changed how accurate the AI was in terms of being able to accurately represent/encapsulate what I’m sharing.
Thanks for sharing that Sally. Ah, AI is so remarkable, in so many ways. And yet, so much depends upon what the LLMs have been “trained” on. Based on its response, while it’s got elements of what I share somewhat correct, I would say, overall it does not really understand what I’m pointing to. Briefly, what the AI misses is my central message that there is only one thing here, one reality, one ground, one presence that moves as all apparent things, experiences, circumstances, etc. I am not talking about some non-material reality/space of awareness that is somehow other than the world of thought, materiality, etc. I’m pointing to the one reality that is everything. The so-called material world IS the transcendent. No dichotomy. Just different perspectives on the same thing. The ocean of infinity is not other than all the finite waves it gives rise to. It IS those waves. One Reality, here yet inconceivable, seemingly describable yet fundamentally beyond the reach of any way we might try to map it. The mystery beyond mysteries…
Hola ¡Aquesta Vida que ho es tot així com es cada cosa o persona hi ha diversitat distinció d'una sola Cosa no sabuda en absolut, diguem-li conciencia o Deu com a símbol de l'inefable, que ha aparegut sen aquesta Vida.
Aquesta Vida - conciencia, agafa pren tota forma i diversitat possibles entre elles l'oblit de ser l'Ésser, la ignorància que porta a la por i tots els seus derivats com l'egoisme anant en contra de la línia que segueix aquesta Vida.
El que passa el que hi ha social culturalment es resultat de la relació de tot amb tot al instant que depenent de la quantitat de consciència social global que depenen de la consciència de cadascú.
Aquesta Vida vol busca mes conciencia .