TONY PARSONS
I just received through the mail a book by Tony Parsons called, “Invitation To Awaken.” I read his previous book, “As It Is,” three times. I find what Parsons has to say deeply disturbing, even though what he is saying has been said for thousands of years. I am confused and not sure if I buy into what he is saying. Would be interested in your opinion.
Forgive me for paraphrasing; and understand that I may have this wrong. The essence of Parsons’ writing is that the appearance of individuals and separateness is just that — an appearance. It is not true. Basically, God is playing a game of hide and seek in all of us. Another way of stating it is that it is all a movie, not starring you and me and others — but God playing you, me, and others.
Enlightenment happens when you (self) stop playing the game and realize there is no you (self). Enlightenment is pure awareness without you (self) being present. Therefore, every time you seek enlightenment, you (self) will fail because there is no you (self). You cannot read books, meditate, and do other spiritual things to gain Enlightenment because you (self) will have to lose the you (self) before you can reach Enlightenment.
I believe that Parsons does not buy into the Power of Now writers because they are telling you what to do, and Parsons believes there is nothing to do. I believe Parsons thinks they are operating on ego and perpetuating separation by talking about you and me. Parsons says there is no you and me, only God. You (self) do not need to obtain Enlightenment because that is all there is.
It is a change of consciousness and losing the self that exposes Enlightenment, where there is no observer, just Awareness.
To me, if Parsons is correct, this reduces God to a trickster, using us to amuse Himself/Herself. To me, it sounds like God was bored and invented a game to keep Himself/Herself amused. I do not think Parsons would dispute this. He would say, don’t fight it, that’s the way it is. Parsons would say that when you discover it is all a game then the jig is up and Enlightenment occurs.
Forgive me, Tony Parsons, if I misrepresented your ideas. This is what I am hearing from your books. What do you think of Tony Parsons’ God? Once again, I would be interested in what you think, since all of this is very disturbing to me.
Forgive me for paraphrasing; and understand that I may have this wrong. The essence of Parsons’ writing is that the appearance of individuals and separateness is just that — an appearance. It is not true. Basically, God is playing a game of hide and seek in all of us. Another way of stating it is that it is all a movie, not starring you and me and others — but God playing you, me, and others.
Enlightenment happens when you (self) stop playing the game and realize there is no you (self). Enlightenment is pure awareness without you (self) being present. Therefore, every time you seek enlightenment, you (self) will fail because there is no you (self). You cannot read books, meditate, and do other spiritual things to gain Enlightenment because you (self) will have to lose the you (self) before you can reach Enlightenment.
I believe that Parsons does not buy into the Power of Now writers because they are telling you what to do, and Parsons believes there is nothing to do. I believe Parsons thinks they are operating on ego and perpetuating separation by talking about you and me. Parsons says there is no you and me, only God. You (self) do not need to obtain Enlightenment because that is all there is.
It is a change of consciousness and losing the self that exposes Enlightenment, where there is no observer, just Awareness.
To me, if Parsons is correct, this reduces God to a trickster, using us to amuse Himself/Herself. To me, it sounds like God was bored and invented a game to keep Himself/Herself amused. I do not think Parsons would dispute this. He would say, don’t fight it, that’s the way it is. Parsons would say that when you discover it is all a game then the jig is up and Enlightenment occurs.
Forgive me, Tony Parsons, if I misrepresented your ideas. This is what I am hearing from your books. What do you think of Tony Parsons’ God? Once again, I would be interested in what you think, since all of this is very disturbing to me.
posted by Brother Bob @ 8:38 AM
26 Comments:
At January 19, 2005 at 2:38 PM,
Brother Bob said…
Thanks for your comment. There is no doubt that Tony Parsons had a genuine experience where he felt how everything was one. How he got from that experience to the concept that God is playing games I guess is another matter. I have read some of Jiddu Krishnamurti's writings. I read something that had some negative things to say about Krishnamurti's personal morals, so I kind of got turned off about him. I will give you the information when I find it -- I believe I know what book I read it in.
At January 19, 2005 at 6:18 PM,
Brother Bob said…
I recently read a book, The Great Failure, by the writer Natalie Goldberg who was shocked to find out her long term Zen master had affairs with his students. In fact, Natalie was once approached by the Zen master who told her how pretty she looked. She did not know it at the time, but it was a come on by the master.
In After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield, he devotes the following on Krishnamurti:
“In her recently published book, Lives in the Shadow, Radha Rajogopal Sloss gives an intimate account of growing up with Krishnamurti. She portrays the gifts of courage and awakening he brought to thousands of students worldwide, and writes of many years Krishnamurti was a loving second father to her. But she also tells of her shock when she learned the details of his 21-year affair with her mother, which took place while her father was Krishnamurti’s business manager and one of his closest friends. Beyond that, she tells of Krishnamurti’s compulsive but secret need for still other women in his life, and of hidden abortions, duplicitous cover-ups, growing attachment to luxury, and an arrogance and rigidity that led to prolonged legal battles with his own staff. These tales have also been told by others who knew him well. Yet when he was asked about his part in this by Radha, Krishnamurti angrily remonstrated, ‘I have no ego.’
At January 20, 2005 at 10:19 AM,
Brother Bob said…
Thanks for your comments. They were helpful. I guess I tend to see things cynically and tend to write off people too easily. I may be throwing out the baby with the bath water. No doubt he helped thousands of people. Sounds like he could not keep up with his own beliefs. Appreciate your kindness and your ability to see the color gray, instead of things in black and white. We are all human beings trying to be more spiritual.
At January 23, 2005 at 8:15 PM,
Brother Bob said…
Thanks for your comments and your continued encouragement. I only told two people about my blog. When a friend saw it he said he thought I was losing my mind. Why was I doing this? I also told my brother whose only comment was that it doesn't look very popular-- no one's commenting on it. I haven't even told my wife that I have a blog. As I said before, I had unusual experiences in my life, and I like to read spiritual books. I really haven't articulated to anyone these experiences or about the books I am reading. This whole discussion and blog thing on the web is the first time I have participated. It sounds like you have been involved in this for some time. I am somewhat uninformed about getting around to various blogs and discussion groups. I think I am at a point in my life where I need to participate more in these things. I do not know if I should have my own blog or just participate in other people's blogs and other discussion groups. I really do not know where I should put the emphasis at this point.
At January 27, 2005 at 8:03 PM,
Brother Bob said…
Yes, I will attempt to. Time is a problem right now. I have been extra busy with work and other things. I have a few others postings I would want to work on when I have time. Enjoyed your intuition in your posting about your bank statements. That was pretty interesting. I was going to post something on intuition next, also.
At April 26, 2005 at 4:01 PM,
Anonymous said…
Tzuni,
Thanks for your post. I am fairly new to this blogging experience. It has been somewhat disappointing since no one ever comments on my postings.
First, about Tony Parsons. You can go to his web page and read more about him. I believe he had an experience where Tony Parsons disappeared as a person and "no one" was experiencing the unity of all life, with a feeling of Love behind all things.
I have no doubt about his experience. I do, however, do question his explanations of his experience.
As individuals, we all respond differently to the same experiences. Tony says that you and I do not really exist and that our goal oriented world experiences really do not exist and are meaningless.
We are all God hiding in individuals. We will ultimately uncover this and realize the joke.
I think Tony Parsons is useful because his extreme statements make you think. Do I buy into all of what he says. I do not think so.
But this was Tony's response to a legitimate experience. You and I may have a different explanation.
You may want to go to Parsons home page to find out more about him at http://www.theopensecret.com/ or you can buy one his books from Amazon. I like him because he upsets me and makes me think. I find he challenges me. I also find myself questioning him at the same time.
This follows what you said about not really being able to describe this experience or put it in words.
As for your other question as the differences between the following states:
altered-state of consciousness"
"enlightened"
"expanded"
I believe enlightened and expanded may be closely aligned. Altered-state of consciousness speaks to me of something different-- an ESP experience, seeing an Angel, traveling in your sleep, etc.
Thanks for your reply. It gives me hope. I may not be a true blogger -- only an occasional blogger.
I like to write mostly about true experiences that happened to me, not trying to intellectualize what has happened.
As I said before, we are still learning and the learning may continue and continue.
At May 14, 2009 at 4:12 AM,
Trisha said…
Hi there Brother Bob,
I have only heard of Tony Parsons in by way of a few articles, so I cannot comment on his views, but I would like to post my own thoughts on nondualism.
I don't know if you have heard of A Course in Miracles? I am a student of the Course, and find that for me, it gives me such peace of mind in recognising the world as illusion, however the Course does not put forth that it is God playing the trick of "many bodies" but that it is in fact the Ego playing the trick, and once we realise we are not an Ego,we "wake up" and know that we dwell in God as perfect Oneness.
Thats a short summary of what the Course is about, I also found Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard to be helpful to me,
Have fun on your Life-Journey,
Blessings & Namaste
Trisha
Have a look at my website at:
www.happytail-house.com
I have a forum for discussing spiritual issues there as well if you are interested :)
At June 30, 2009 at 10:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
he says that there is no individual, so then who would God be playing a trick on, god is playing it on god, so you are God, which never in actuality was tricked but it was a fun appearance.
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At April 7, 2010 at 10:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
It is most strange that such threads exist. What is contained here (in this post and in the thread as a whole) is words, that is, concepts.
Maddness would engulf me were I to try to 'understand' the Transubstantiation of the Catholics, the nature of the ABSOLUTE, the meaning of life ....Understanding that the 'persona/ego' is a creation of mind is fairly straight-forward. Separating from this mental conception is very hard.
Best not to think too much ... or try to bend secondary symbols (like words) to describe the numinious. Too much thinking achieves nothing - believe me there is over 60 years of trying behind this assertion! :)
Perhaps it's best to pick a saying which resonates and stick with it:
eg "love one another as yourself."
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At August 19, 2012 at 11:02 PM,
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I think it's bullshit, to be honest. :) But why do you, as someone sympathetic to nonduality (?), find it disturbing? Isn't this basically the message of all nonduality teachers?
At October 4, 2012 at 6:51 PM,
Consius said…
Hi,
I am a fan of Tony.
He is not saying that there is something you can do. There is no one.
Also there isn't a seperate god running the show. This is God. God is not something seperate pulling the strings of the divine puppets as he explains it in his videos on youtube. Watch the video 'napa tony parsons'....that one is hilarious and so simple.
Thanks for the article.
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