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Wayne Liquorman
Wayne Liquorman (aka Ram Tzu) was born January 7, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a contemporary teacher of Advaita (trans. “not two”), the spiritual path of jnana (knowledge) and non-duality. He was a successful export businessman, who, through an unexpected turn of events, became a spiritual seeker; and in September 1987 Wayne met his guru, Ramesh Balsekar, author and teacher of Advaita, who was an enlightened disciple of the sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. In April 1989 the process of seeking ended when enlightenment happened through the body-mind mechanism called Wayne. He did not teach or speak publicly until Ramesh asked him to in 1996.

Wayne compiled, edited and published Consciousness Speaks and several other books by Ramesh Balsekar. He published his first book, No Way: A Guide for the Spiritually ‘Advanced,’ under the pen name Ram Tzu in 1990, and then went on to write four more books under his own name. In 2012 he drew on his profound experience as a recovered substance abuser in his book The Way of Powerlessness: Advaita and The 12 Steps of Recovery, in which he discussed the teachings of Advaita as they relate to and often parallel the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous whose avowed goal is to facilitate a spiritual awakening.

Teachings
Teaching, as it happens through Wayne, is presented in an uncompromising, sometimes humorous way, without religious dogma or new age veneer. In his talks, Wayne is without agenda, speaking in response to seekers’ questions; he talks about Consciousness, the Ground of all Being, the Source and substance of everything. His “Living Teaching,” as he sometimes calls it, facilitates an in-depth look at the living energy expressing itself as us, through us, as life itself.

One of his unique pointers and teaching tools is the concept of the False Sense of Authorship (FSA), which is that part of the human ego mechanism that falsely claims “authorship” for one’s actions, leading one to believe that the personal self is a separate and independent source of power with the ability to control and make things (thoughts, feelings and actions) happen. Wayne explains that when enlightenment occurs, the FSA dies. It is permanently silenced. There is no longer the possibility of suffering, as suffering is directly tied to this false sense of independent personal power. What follows the enlightenment event is the implicit and magnificently simple Understanding that everything happens spontaneously in the unfolding of each present moment. There is no longer secondary egoic involvement, claiming credit or blame for what is happening.

In the tradition of his guru (Balsekar), and his guru’s guru (Nisargadatta), Wayne gives talks four times each week at his home in Hermosa Beach, California, when he is not traveling the world offering talks/satsangs and retreats.

Quotes
"This Advaita, as I talk about it, is not actually a philosophy, because it does not hold any tenets. It is simply a collection of pointers and concepts, and it posits that none of them are true in an absolute sense. This Teaching is not about conveying the truth. It is about prying away the limitations and misconceptions about how things are."

“When you think about this Awakening, which is an impersonal event which happens through a body-mind mechanism, you have to assume, because of your own lifetime of experience, that there is someone there for whom this experience happens. You can't imagine an impersonal happening of that kind, or what an impersonal experiential state would be, because there is no such thing as an impersonal experiential state. It is incomprehensible, literally incomprehensible. Yet that is what it is...”

“For most of us powerlessness is asso¬ciated with weakness. Our society treats powerlessness as an illness, something to be treated and overcome. Yet pow¬erlessness is actually the doorway to genuine strength.”

“The proposition that lasting peace in life can come through the recognition of complete personal powerlessness seems, on the surface, to be counter-intuitive and ultimately ridiculous. Yet, discov¬ering the freedom available through the recognition of your own complete per¬sonal powerlessness is what The Way of Powerlessness makes possible.”

“If you find yourself sufficiently em¬powered to go on reading this book (The Way of Powerlessness: Advaita and the 12 Steps of Recovery), you may be surprised to discover that you have actually been powerless all along. You may begin to see that your suffering in life is a direct result of the false sense that you have the power to control. As you awaken to the recogni-tion of what is True about yourself and the world around you, you begin to live in harmony with yourself and with others. With Grace, you will awaken to a vision of life as it actually is and dis-cover the lasting Peace that inevitably accompanies this vision. “May it find you now!”

From Ram Tzu:

Ram Tzu has some questions for you... Just who do you think you are? Are you other than God? Are you separate from Me?

If so... What are you made of? Where did it come from?

Don't look to science to help you. The physicists have all become mystics. They're of no more use to you than is Ram Tzu.

If you're really clever you'll turn around And walk away Fast! Hang around here and you're liable to lose Everything you hold dear.

Go back to your church, your temple, Your therapist, your drug dealer, your ashram. There you may find a moments peace. You found it there once. Here is only emptiness for you. You'll find no food for your ego here.

What if your precious sense of self Were to shrivel up and die? Where would you be then? What would happen?

Best not to risk it.

_____________________________

Ram Tzu loves you...

So he is out to destroy you.

He knows you are your own Worst enemy So to destroy you Is to save you.

Your ego must be smashed Or you will surely die. Yet words are like Sledge hammers with greased handles. They're difficult to guide To their target, Dangerous, Liable to hit anything.

Ram Tzu loves you. You can trust him. Just put your head right here. That's it. Nothing to worry about...

Why do you hesitate?

Books
NO WAY for the Spiritually "Advanced" by Ram Tzu; Advaita Press 1990; ISBN 9780929448138 Acceptance of What IS: A Book about Nothing; Advaita Press 2000; ISBN 9780929448190 Never Mind: A Journey into Non-Duality; Advaita Press 2004; ISBN 9780929448213 Enlightenment is Not What You Think; Advaita Press 2009; ISBN 9780929448220 The Way of Powerlessness: Advaita and the 12 Steps of Recovery; Advaita Press 2012; ISBN 9780929448251