January 24, 2021
Michael Hall, PhD
From Amazon’s description of Not I, Not Other Than I by
Russell Williams (2015) London: O Books.
“Russel Williams is one of the most remarkable enlightened
spiritual teachers of our time. After an early life of extreme hardship—leaving
school at the age of 11 and becoming an orphan shortly afterwards—he underwent
a spiritual awakening at the age of 29. Since the late 1950s, he has been a
spiritual teacher, and is still actively teaching now, at the age of 94. (Russell
passed away in 2018-MH). Previously, Russel has avoided publicity and never
published any writings or transcripts of his talks, preferring to work quietly
with small groups. This is the first time any details of his teachings or of
his life have appeared in print. This book is partly a record of his teachings,
and partly also the story of his extraordinary life. Working with well-known spiritual
author Steve Taylor—who has attended Russel’s meetings regularly since the
1990s—Russel has created a profound text which will surely become known as a
classic of spiritual literature.
The book interweaves the highly improbable-sounding and
adventurous early years of Russel Williams’ life with summaries of the
realisations and teachings of his later years. The young Williams had a string
of perilous experiences, including finding himself in a lion’s cage, living
through the London blitz, saving lives from a small boat during the evacuation
of Dunkirk, and so on. Improbable but almost certainly true, Williams passed
through a rare intensity of experience that was probably necessary for his
subsequent spiritual awakening and later undoubted spiritual authenticity.
The essence of his teaching is a simplicity of experience that
does not get into verbalisation at all. Steve says in his introduction:
“Russel’s
spiritual teachings are very ‘naked’ and pure – that is, they are very free of
theories, concepts and categories. This gives his teachings a rare clarity and
power. There is no system. There are no rituals or rules to follow, no ideas to
take on board. You don’t have to believe anything. You don’t have to accept
anything. You don’t have to become anything. All you have to do is be.”
The teachings are not even actually Buddhist theories, but they
are largely consistent with Buddhist teachings about the essential nature of
man.
Steve goes on:
“Russel
teaches us how to uncover this state – how we can nurture it, and remove
some of the obstacles which stop its expression. He makes it clear that
this is our natural state, and that it’s only due to confusion that we have
lost access to it. He helps us to remove the confusion, to disentangle our
minds from the mess of concepts and thinking habits which cloud them, so that
we can become who we really are. In this state, we are naturally one with
everything, and with the universe itself…”
This is a fascinating book, which deals well with trying to get
over an essentially nonverbal practice. It would be difficult to read it and
not come away in some way changed.
Steve
Taylor is himself an interesting man who has written a number of books on
psychology and spirituality, and is an accomplished poet, so was well qualified
to undertake the editing of this book."
https://smile.amazon.com/Not-other-than-Teachings-Williams/dp/1782797297/
Transcript of this interview: http://conscious.tv/text/94.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePB19n9IZ98
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