Piet Hut's Summary of Interchanges with Rod Rees

I have thoroughly enjoyed this first round of exchanges with Rod. We started this first WoK experiment without knowing what to expect: the format of the experiment was new and untried, and until a month ago Rod and I knew each other only through a brief email exchange. I am very pleased to see how much terrain we have covered.

I am struck by the deeply personal way in which Rod has expressed how we are immersed in, and in fact defined by, consciousness. He has stressed how an exploration of consciousness is not so much a matter of learning what to do, but rather of learning what not to do. He gave a clear example using his joy for photography, adding ``It's not a matter of "looking for something." Rather, it's a matter of "looking past the somethings" that I already know about.''

Rod spoke about an `open focus', being fully open yet fully attentive. In this way, we can try to `just let consciousness be' and to try `letting go of letting go,' as he expressed it, adding that the latter is really tough. We also talked about ways in which to transcend the seeming limitations of past-present-future time and subject-object separation and, as Rod expressed it, ways to find yourself immersed in hyper-vivid reality.

From my side, I have tried to introduce the use of a working hypothesis. Instead of trying to follow a long path of traditional spiritual practice, I suggested starting at the end, with the hypothesis that everything is already perfectly complete, without any intrinsic absolute limits. I now realize that I have not been very clear in the way I have tried to formulate this working hypothesis. I hope to do a better job in the second round of this WoK experiment.

My hope is to find ways to open up to reality, to let go even of letting go, by using the working hypothesis as a tool for `learning what not to do', as Rod put it. Can we walk, talk, live our daily life, while considering all that limits us as only relative -- relative to our unquestioned ways of buying into time and identity? Can we let go of being glued so tightly to our personal history and our belief in a past and future and presence? Can we use the working hypothesis as a solvent?

To the extent that I have gotten glimpses of that possibility, the experiences have been overwhelming, and I am at a loss as to how to put those into words. My hope is to find ways to indicate not only how deep experiences of non-duality can be, but how much further and further those experiences can be deepened, beyond even assigning them as experiences to beings living within a linear time line. I feel that I have made only the first few steps in this direction, and I look forward to a collective exploration of this wide-open unlimited terrain.