24 August 2008
Is This It?
Q: There is the thought/feeling "I am" and there is awareness of the thought/feeling "I am." What I am is that awareness,
not the thought. Any seeming experience of myself (such as a witness) is still just an object. Everyone has already "got it"
because everyone is aware of "their" own thoughts and senses of self. Right?
A: No. No one has "got it". What IS cannot be "got".
Ponder these pointers:
These Pointers are from John Greven (www.onenessjustthat.com.)
What is your next thought going to be?
It is a simple question, but the answer is profound. The answer carries with it ramifications
that will undo core beliefs about who you think you are. With just a little watching, you may discover that the answer to
the question is not known until the thought arises. If this is true, what does that mean for who you think you are?
Because the next thought is not and cannot be known until it is already present, some questions
may arise….
If I don’t know what the next thought is going to be, who comes up with it?
If I don’t know what the next thought is going to be, how can I know what choices are going
to be made?
If I don’t know what choices are going to be made, who does?
If I don’t know what choices are going to be made, am I making them at all?
If I didn’t make the choice, where did it come from?
Have I ever made a choice about anything?
If I have never made a choice, is there any responsibility?
~
Do I Exist?
Buddha is purported to have said, "Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer
thereof.”
Francis Crick - Nobel Prize recipient in medicine for deciphering the DNA code said, “You,
your joys, sorrows, memories, ambitions, your sense of identity, free will and love are no more then behaviors of a vast assembly
of nerve cells."
Any thought is just a movement of energy - it is just mental noise..
The thought that there is a you or that there is no person - is just mental noise.
The thought that self-realization has or has not occurred - is mental noise.
Anything that appears in the manifested reality - whether it appears as a thought, mind, body,
other, no-one, – anything, nothing - is, in the final understanding, just appearance in a non-conceptual awareness.
What the One source is - cannot be perceived or conceived simply because there is no other to
perceive the One. Yet, there is an undeniable presence that the “I” thought refers to. Find what the mind calls
“I.” Be relentless until the Source is clear. Everything conceivable and perceivable is appearance - in the presence/awareness
- that belongs to no one. That, I am.
~
don’t Exist – Confused?
If the “I” is just an illusion, with no independent existence, then what can you do
towards self-realization? Some “teachers” says there is nothing you can do. If you are a seeker - that is frustrating
and just does not seem right. There certainly seems to be a “me” doing things. Others say, to investigate
the “I.” Ask the question, “Who am I?” As always, the problem is trying to understand these seemingly
conflicting pointers in the mind. What is this non-existent “I” supposed to do? Nothing? Even that is something.
These obviously appear to be two very different approaches. But, neither is intended to be the
answer. They are, like everything else, just pointers. Taken literally, it is a hopeless situation. The “teachers”
who would say, there is nothing you can do will pass the salt if asked. Seemingly, someone did something.
Ask someone what day it is and the mind responds. In the same way, ask someone to inquire, “Who
am I?” and the mind responds. The question is whether or not “someone” responded – or - is it all
apart of the natural functioning?
Certainly it seems like someone is doing the thinking, passing the salt, and asking "Who am I?",
but under investigation that idea is seen to be false. The realization is that there has never been “anyone” thinking
thoughts or doing things. Thoughts, like everything else, come and go according to the influences upon the brain. Just as
a drop of water moves around in the river without an independent nature, so thoughts arise and subside without anyone choosing
or controlling the activity.
The concept that there is nothing you can do to bring the search to an end is true. Yet, doing
is happening all the time isn’t it? The body is hungry and eating happens. The body is tired and sleep happens. The
search itself is happening. If it is true that there is no doer, then a lot is still getting done! So, there is no one telling
you to inquire, “Who am I?” There is no one to inquire, “Who am I?” Yet, the inquiry still happens.
When it is seen that the “I” that believes it is doing the inquiry is just a simple thought with a complex web
of concepts supporting it, then no one uncovered the false center of “me.”
~
The Source, The One, God
A Humble Mind’s Interpretation
Words can
never capture that which is beyond all things, but here we go anyway.
The One knows itself as the only reality. This is unquestionable.
The peace, that is the One, is beyond anything that the mind can comprehend. It is absolute. It
is a peace born from timeless existence and sole presence that is truly at home with itself. It is a peace that just one taste
of would satisfy a human mind for a lifetime. It is a peace so profound that nothing can disrupt it - just as nothing can
touch space, nothing can touch this all-prevailing peace. It is vibrant stillness and screaming silence.
The source knows itself as timeless- without beginning and without end. This knowing is absolute.
There is absolute certainty in the existence of the One. No question can arise in the One, as all is clearly known. Not a
knowing of things, as the human mind collects, (although that is present moment to moment), but a knowing of the single reality,
that I Am. The Love and Peace of the One are the same –seemingly different yet in perfect harmony and balance. Nothing
moves, while everything is vibrant and seemingly alive.
As seeming individuals, we use a word called love. When speaking of the Love that is the One,
the human conditional love is something different. The Love of the One, like the Peace, is absolute and unassailable. It is
a Love that is complete and present in a source that is timeless. The mind would draw the analogy to a Love and Peace that
have evolved into perfection over a timeless existence. Yet, the word perfection is too limiting.
The One knows itself as all pervading yet without location or space to fill. The One knows itself
as absolute power – absolute presence, yet nothing to effect.
The One – as the attempt above describes, is what you are. The One does not exist without
what you are and you are not without the One. One presence. One Consciousness. One awareness. There are no individuals within
the One.
~
No Mind
In thinking about the mind, there is often a sense that the mind and brain are two different things.
The thought may be that the mind is somehow an ethereal private world that is cherished or is perhaps a tormentor - while
the brain is often ignored as having anything to do with the mind. As an example, a friend recently made the statement, “I’m
going to sell everything I own and move into my mind - since I live there anyway.” The mind gives us a sense of place,
whereas the brain just appears to be an idea in the mind.
We know of course that the brain is storing information and carrying on bodily functions. But
this is really more of a belief than a true knowing because we can’t see or feel the brain carrying out its functions.
There is no sensation of the brain sending a signal to blink the eye, no seeing of the brain storing or retrieving information
from memory, or even translating these words. If something is touched with a finger, there is contact with that something,
and it is known. But, trying to make contact with the brain seems impossible. Therefore, the idea of a mind receives the attention
– contact is possible with thoughts and feelings and they become the focus. The mind appears to be active – in
the head- while the brain appears to be silent. Perhaps the two different labels of brain and mind appear to mean something
different, but are, in actuality, referring to the same thing. Perhaps if we got square with the facts things would appear
differently.
Is there a mind separate from the brain? Is what we refer to as the mind just the thinking process
of the brain? Perhaps, if we dropped the label of mind and just saw the brain for what it is, a complex network of cells that
make up a limited, habitual, machine type organ, the mind would loose some of its seeming authority. An analogy has been drawn
from the computer function of “garbage in garbage out”. The brain is truly no different. In regards to what we
refer to as the mind, all the brain is doing is organizing information, combining information, and bringing ideas and behaviors
back out. The brain is a conditioned organ. It is nothing but a machine. The conditioning that it has received was started
millions of years ago and through a seeming series of events, is what it is, right now, down to the last cell, memory, and
thought.
There is no mind.
~
Normal Space
Normal space - what a miracle it is.
Sitting between every cell – the space is.
Floating between every
blade of grass it is.
Filling the lungs of every creature, untouched by the simple flow of a breeze
or massive collision
of suns – the space is.
The planets, suns, and comets... Creation and thoughts -
in all their forms dancing within simple space –
dependent
on it - and yet, not touching it.
A fitting analogy - but as beautiful as space could seem -
the mind would get tired to just looking at it.
Why?
Because it is not the content
and the mind is designed for content.
Yet - if you were the space -----
how easily the content could be enjoyed.
Rather than fearing the content
or
that something would be missing, coming, or going -
the momentary appearances of content are effortlessly allowed to be,
seeing
without condition or expectation.
You are not seeing the space -
you are the space -
the space like -
presence - awareness.
~
When asked which books I recommend, I say start with John's book, "Oneness" ... then read mine if you like, just
for fun.
Visit www.onenessjustthat.com
"Some Call This Ordinary Awareness" - Padmasambhava
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