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Conversations with Avant-garde Sages - The Wizard LLC

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<strong>Conversations</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Avant</strong>-<strong>garde</strong> <strong>Sages</strong><br />

WIZARD: I think he was a Hindu.<br />

TRIP: Hindu, okay. Obviously, a number of notable Jews saw<br />

through the idea of there being an externalized deity. But I was<br />

wondering did you find that the Jewish tradition is more than just<br />

"a religion", it's really a way of life. <strong>The</strong>re's so much stuff that<br />

practicing Jews engage in almost on a weekly basis <strong>with</strong> the<br />

observances, and then the family, and the extended network of<br />

family, and the whole… I mean, it's a huge, huge thing. Are there<br />

certain religions or can you comment on the Jewish religion, or are<br />

there certain religions that are easier to evolve into a sense of<br />

oneness from or not?<br />

ALBERT NAHMANI: I think what is the hardest is not necessarily<br />

what religion it is, it's what attachment we have, and how strong is<br />

that attachment to that belief that we're separate. And<br />

unfortunately, although most religions, if not all, have attempted<br />

to explain the unexplainable, and thereby failed obviously, it's a<br />

necessary failure, a necessary evil I guess. But eventually when we<br />

inquire <strong>with</strong>in our self there is this intelligence that goes through<br />

netti, netti which is, no, not this either. This doesn't ring a bell to<br />

me, doesn't ring right, and all that. And you keep doing that until<br />

you've exhausted all the netti, netti, again until you say, I<br />

surrender, I don't know anymore. When you say that you<br />

surrender, that's a good beginning. When you say I don't know<br />

anything anymore, you're starting to align yourself.<br />

WIZARD: That's when the Buddha sat down under the tree, and<br />

bingo.<br />

ALBERT NAHMANI: That's right. Yes.<br />

TRIP: I wanted to say that everyone we interview has a few jewels,<br />

you have the jewels, one of them was the what am I, instead of<br />

who am I, that was a jewel, looking at it that way <strong>with</strong>out<br />

assuming the personhood and the who am I. Another thing you<br />

wrote you said, "I am is inclusive, welcoming yet <strong>with</strong>out attaching<br />

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