Noninterference and the practice of natural release

Empty oneself more and more, finally you reach no action.Where there is no action, nothing is left undone.

Tao Te Ching

Since effort is unnecessary, immerse yourself in genuine being, and rest naturally with nothing needing to be done. The expanse of spontaneous presence entails no deliberate effort, no acceptance or rejection. From now on make no effort, since phenomena already are what they are. Even the enlightenment of all victorious ones of the three times is spontaneously present as a supremely blissful state of natural rest.

Longchenpa

Conventional therapies assume that the release of intense emotions involves work and effort, through deep cognitive insight, cathartic release or a combination of these. Conventional spiritual paths are built on changing our behavior, purifying our minds and transforming our perceptions.

The nondual approach opens up the possibility of liberating disturbing thoughts and feelings by doing nothing! In the nondual Dzogchen tradition this is called “leaving what is, just as it is.” This is how Dzogchen masters dissolve disturbances and enter the unconditioned mind. They let things be, as they are. And the moment they really do this, their reactive responses evaporate like water on a hot plate. Or as traditional texts say, “like snow falling on the warm water of pure noninterference.”

When we let things be, as they are, contracted emotions can often dissipate more quickly than if we meddle and interfere. Constricting emotions and compulsive thoughts dissolve the moment we neither grasp onto, nor suppress any arising thought, feeling, or perception. The ability to let things be, without judgment or reflection, is an important component of nondual therapy. We simply create space around a problem, let it run its course and dissipate of its own accord. As the great Dzogchen yogi Longchenpa says (1987), “Do not condition your mind by (trying) to suppress your experience, apply an antidote, or mechanically transform it, but let your mind fall naturally into whatever (condition you find it). This is the incontrovertible essence of what is ultimately meaningful.” In the Dzogchen tradition the spontaneous dissolution of limiting beliefs and feelings is called “natural release.”

In other Projects in this Course we will explore dynamic and engaging ways of dissolving fixations. But in this Project we’ll explore the ways of noninterference and natural release.

Complete or incomplete

In nondual therapy, the most basic lens through which we observe human experience is that of whether we are complete or incomplete in each moment as it arises. When I say “complete” or “incomplete” these terms mean something different from the way we normally use them. The experience of “being complete” isn’t the same as feeling satisfied, or happy or content. When we are complete we’ve reached a point where there’s absolutely nothing more that we need. Nothing of any value or significance can be added to our experience: it simply can’t be further enhanced.

This is the experience of the unconditioned mind in which “nothing is missing.” When I say “nothing is missing” this is shorthand for an experience that goes beyond any thought, concern or consideration for being either complete or incomplete. As the Perfect insight tradition of Buddhism says, the ultimate experience transcends the concept of freedom and liberation.
When we’re in this state we have no concern whatsoever about the experiencing continuing. Why? Because we can’t be attached to it. We realize there’s nothing to be grasped or held onto.

Relative to the experience of the unconditioned mind every other experience is incomplete. The difference between a “complete” and an “incomplete” experience is the presence or absence of a need. If we need something we are incomplete. If we need an experience to change, it’s incomplete. If we need is to continue, we’re incomplete.

The universe isn’t geared up to automatically fulfill our needs. It isn’t designed that way. The material universe doesn’t even know about our needs. This is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism. In his first teaching after his enlightenment the Buddha taught that the cause of suffering is attachment and aversion.

The Buddha used the word duhkha to refer to this state of incompletion. Even though duhkha is usually translated as suffering he didn’t just mean painful experiences. He was pointing to the fact that nothing that arises within the conditioned mind can be relied on as a source of sustainable fulfillment.

In the Project we will use the language of therapists and clients. Some of you will be able to relate directly to this language. Others will need to translate this structure into the interactions in your life with colleagues,family, your spiritual community, other participants in this course. In the same way that this Course trains people in nondual therapy, it also trains people to be nondual partners, nondual parents, nondual facilitators and nondual spiritual teachers.

Letting things be

The baseline position of nondual therapy is that nothing is wrong or missing. As such there’s nothing that needs to be done. There’s no work to do. The are no solutions to uncover because, ultimately, there are no problems. As much as possible we bring forth the space where there’s nowhere further to go. We have no expectations and there’s nothing to change, nothing to understand, nothing to know, unless someone has a problem and invites us to work with them. When I say invite, I don’t mean that someone needs to formally ask us to help them. I mean that someone relates to us in a spirit of openness and self responsibility.

In nondual therapy, an awareness of whether a client is complete or incomplete, sits in the background, not as something that we monitor, but as a natural, effortlessly attunement to the client’s state of being. It may sound trite to make such an observation but it’s important. We shouldn’t just assume that people are lacking in some way. Many therapies begin with the assumption that something is missing: that we are incomplete. Nondual therapy begins with no assumptions.
If we can’t determine if someone is complete or incomplete we wait for her or his experience to clarify, either in the direction of unconditioned completion, or conditioned incompletion. We can find ourselves doing nothing until an obvious direction presents itself.

Letting things be when nothing is missing

If people are complete there’s nothing we need to do. Why? Because they’re beyond needing anything. They’re no longer functioning out of needs and preferences. There’s nowhere further to go. They’re resting in a state of nondual awareness in the midst of their functional existence. There’s nothing we need to talk about, or analyze, or process. This doesn’t mean that we just sit together in mute silence. We might be quiet, but we might also begin to dance in the paradoxes of nondual awareness.

When nothing is really missing we’re free of all preoccupations about the future. We don’t need to maintain the state we’re in. We realize that we can’t maintain it, because there isn’t anything to maintain. This’s why the experience of the unconditioned mind is totally effortless. If we feel a need to maintain an experience then it’s incomplete. We’re no longer free of the need for it to continue. Even though we’re enjoying the experience, still something is missing.

If nothing is really missing, we let people enjoy this state for as long as it continues. Sometimes we might point to the presence and quality of this state. But generally we only do this if people can simply acknowledge the space. If they are inclined to add significance or value to the experience, then we may not even identify it. If they begin to move into a contracted stated, for example, by trying to perpetuate the experience, then it may suggest some form of interaction.

So how does a nondual session begin? I can only speak for myself. I might begin by simply asking: “How are things going? Is anything wrong or missing?” Or I might say, “Is there a problem?” I would might say this rather than, “Do you have a problem?” in order to gently depersonalize a potential problem.

Let’s imagine you’re the client. If you were to say, “everything is fine,” “nothing’s missing,” or something else along those lines, I would take this at face value. I would accept that “nothing’s missing.” From a therapeutic point of view this means there’s nothing to do. In the back of my mind I know that you’re probably still in a conditioned state of mind and that when you say, “nothing’s missing,” you mean that “there is nothing obviously wrong or troubling at the moment.”

If you say that “nothing is missing” and I feel that this isn’t congruent with your experience, by “letting things be,” and not interfering, whatever is brewing will come into the open. At some point you’ll probably reappraise you experience and acknowledge that something is missing. You might fear that you’ll lose an opportunity to work with your problem.

In this case I’ll just “let things be.” I’ll sit quietly with you. Something will begin to crystallize. Either you’ll drop into a more unconditioned experience of completeness. Or, you’ll find that something is missing. If you begin to feel that something is missing, then we can get to work! In the interim I share with you the possibility of not needing to meddle or interfere when you are feeling fairly complete.

Unlike some therapies, in nondual therapy we don’t go digging for problems when none arise. This isn’t a state of denial on the part of the therapist, even though you may think so from time to time. We’re so accustomed to therapists asking us, “What’s wrong?, Or, “What is the problem?” that if they don’t ask such questions we think they are ignoring us, or not taking us seriously.

Often therapists intervene, with an observation, question or feedback, in order to alleviate their own discomfort in having nothing to do. If this is the motivation behind what we say or do, it can’t be fully in the interests and welfare of the client. Our approach is to work with our own anxieties and aspirations in order to come from a place that as much as possible, is free of desire and aversion. We are then able to model this space as a possibility for everyone we relate to. The most profound experience we can offer anyone is our own open openness and freedom from compulsive behavior and reactivity.

Letting things be when we are full of worries is one of the first ways in which we begin to recondition our minds so that we can experience more freedom and contentment.

We need to be comfortable being free of problems and not feel obliged to construct that something is missing when we reached our fill of feeling good. So part of the task of nondual therapies is to increase our capacity to be free of problems.

Letting things be when something is missing

Sometimes, even when something is missing, it’s still constructive to let things be. This is because any response in terms of an acknowledgement, suggestion, or interpretation will be appropriated and used in a way that fuels the reality of the experience that something is missing. This is the Dzogchen way of working with contracted states.

By allowing things to be as they are, we create space around a problem that is free of all judgment. We take care not to compound an experience of lack by validating it, or fuelling it. We are aware of how people seek support for their constructions. We are conscious of the possibility of prolonging a state of incompletion by simply giving energy and attention to a limiting construction.

How does the practice of noninterference work? Behind every experience of suffering is resistance. We’re either resisting what is happening, or resisting losing it. When we identify what we’re resisting and let go, we are immediately free and complete. For as long as we resist, our suffering persists! Emotions and limiting beliefs liberate naturally from within themselves once they are experienced without resistance. When there’s nothing to fight against, there is no fight—no struggle. It doesn’t matter if we confront a challenging emotion or try to avoid it. Either way it seems to be real.

Instead there is peace and freedom. This is a very gentle way to release suffering and conflict. It’s a “stopping” rather than a “doing.” We simply stop trying to confront or avoid what we’re experiencing. We let go of the tremendous amount of energy we expend, each and every day, trying to control and manipulate our existence.

In the nondual approach to therapy, therapists facilitate the natural release of fixed beliefs and frozen emotions by ….. The operative guideline to remember is to create a space that is free of all pressure to change or to be the same. We offer people an open and nonjudgmental space that lets things be, just as they are. This is an extremely respectful way of working with people because we don’t judge where they are, or how they should be. They give permission for things to be exactly as they are. With this we experience freedom and release. Giving permission for things to be as they are, doesn’t mean that a therapist endorses who we are. They are not telling us we are perfect, exactly as we are—warts and all. Rather, they acknowledge who we are, as the starting point of our relationship. And once we recognize who we are, there is no one else we can be—nor any need or possibility to be anyone else—and hence the fulfillment of our path. At the real point of departure there is no where else we need to go.

The journey of conscious evolution begins when we cut through all pretentions and embarrassment, and encounter ourselves exactly as we are. And paradoxically, this is also where the journey ends. When we really begin, there’s nothing more we have to do! There’s no beginning, middle or end. There’s just the unobstructed and uncontrived flow of each person’s unique existence.