Sunday, February 15, 2009

In God's Hands

We believe we are in control, that we have some substance and existence as a separate life or driving force - we believe we know what the future holds, that we can guide it to our liking and avoid that which we don't.

This is all due to inattention and suppression of Reality.

Reality isn't difficult - it's obvious. It's not rocket science or some doctorate-level spirituality or mysticism - none of this is required to know Reality directly. Reality is simply ignored because, to the mind, it can be seen as too painful.

It's painful because we want to hold on to what we love and what we want. We want to hold on to our identity and our life, our story. We feel that, with this control we can make the right decisions and then everything will be ok (ok means to MY liking.)

Because we want these things, yet we are NEVER certain from one moment to the next what will happen, we build up this running story. We pass over Reality and live in a mental world which is nothing but illusion. We ignore the fact that there is absolutely nothing in our control - the little "ME" can't do anything about the constantly changing nature of Reality - we suppress (resist/deny) the fact that every single thing we love and want can be gone in a split second.

To accept this fact, this direct Reality, is to die. Acceptance of Reality or surrender to God is the same thing. There is a surrender of "my life" because it is obviously only a thought-created story. There is a surrender of "me as the doer", of "I am in control of my life". To accept that we are solidly stuck in this unchanging moment yet we can never say or control what the content will be, what will come, what will go... appearances are there and then they aren't - there is no certainty EVER that they will re-appear. Ever.

Yet as we notice the total flux, the total lack of absolute nature of the appearance, it may dawn that what we are is not subject to that flux. It may dawn that what we truly are has never changed, has never been subject to the coming and going of objects that arise. It may become blindingly obvious that every single changing thing, including the body, mind and world, can only be known against a changeless ground.

Whatever happens, happens perfectly, exactly as it should, even if that happening isn't to MY liking. To understand that this little ME-story never had any control to keep these appearances as we want, to keep these appearances re-appearing - and to understand that our true essence IS that intelligent hand of God - go hand in hand, so to speak.

In this understanding, the ignorant belief in control and separation falls away naturally - what IS, IS. What "may BE" is in the hands of God, that obvious Intelligence which is the essence of all that IS. As a separate person, we will always be fighting with this because we can't reconcile Reality. The individual who is separate from God can never truly accept God. It is only when true surrender happens that God becomes obvious. Yet that surrender can also only be in God's hands...

There is nothing YOU can do - seeking is another story of "what can I do" to find God. Seeking God firmly plants us in illusion - God doesn't need to seek Himself. Yet until the little ME is known to be only an story born of ignorance (ignoring) - that "individual" is a wall which seems to obscure God.

That wall is made of thought.

Like a brush with death, experiencing loses it's exclusive focus on the "story of ME" and is left in it's pure openness, unlimitedness, timelessness... pure causeless Joy, Reality shining through as SatChitAnanda - Being/Knowing/Bliss...

God cannot find Himself and he cannot LOSE Himself. Reality is God - the totality of appearances and the knowing of that totality - seemingly two yet totality includes the seen and the seer. Pure seeing.

To see "what's happening right here and now" is to look directly at God with His eyes.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your understanding of the teaching is impressive and your ability to view Reality in that way is a true sign of spiritual maturity.
However there are one or two 'signs' in your writings which make me wonder. These signs are specific mechanical errors - or failures in observation. It makes me wonder whether what you say is actually a description of your experience or whether you are more interested in the talking school of philosophical wonderings and mental stimulation. Do you have a literal sense that the entire world is eminating from your Heart region? Is what you see visually radically different from what you used to see? And Are you feeling the ecstacy of Divine communion all day, every day - in your face and in your teeth and in your eyeballs! If so what you describe is true. If not its just talking school!

Randall Friend said...

Hello my anonymous friend. Love to you.

The Heart region or Centre, as popularized by Ramana, is not located in phenomenality - "it is merely a concept for those who haven't recognized the Self." It is a tool to direct the inquiry within.

The Self is all - eyeballs, teeth, face, every blade of grass, each sensation, each perception - which is all "this world" really is.

Any experience is an event in time/space - the Self, what you truly are, is beyond all concepts of time and space, although these do arise as concepts within. Experience has it's dependence on pure experiencing, the fact or function of knowing, not the other way around. Self-recognition is not dependent on particular experience - it is recognition of that which transcends and illuminates ALL experience, no matter how spiritual or mundane.

Divine communion may be said to be the recognition that the light of pure consciousness and is both the knowledge and existence of the world, body and mind. As such, there is no communion - does God have communion with Himself?

That pure knowledge is fully present in each "moment" - isn't this obvious?

The understanding comes full circle, from the identified ME who looks for a Heart region, special and permanent spiritual "states", to the silent witness, aware of the world yet not immersed, not involved, untouched, pure emptiness/nothingness, and finally the concept of witnessing dissolves as the pure consciousness once again is aware of itself AS everything, fullness, Joy in each and every arising sensation, Bliss in every perception, and yes, Ecstasy in the celebration that is this miracle and mystery of that we call "I".

"I" is then nothing other than everything - and everything is simultaneously the totality and the collapse of totality - Oneness... seeing itself.


love
randall

Chris said...

WOW Randall. Really loved this post. Thank you so much.
There is a certain sense of relief upon reading the words somehow. The "me" should freak out at hearing this but it somehow does the opposite. A recognition?

I do have a question however. What about responsability? Is it to say that no one ever is responsible for their actions or their fate, not even a little?

Also I find that feelings of regret sometimes arises here over past actions and there are certainly things that must be done here soon such as find a job ASAP for example. Should I just relax in the knowing that everything is exactly the way it should be and that everything will turn out exactly the way it was meant to?

Thanks Randall

Anonymous said...

dear randall,
What can I say!!! you are a true blessing. NEVER have I encountered such clarity. never. You are truly a mighty gift for this one here.

Lots of love to you.

Randall Friend said...

Chris,

There is a resonance simply because this is all simple and already known, already obvious - just overlooked, ignored. That's why it's called a recognition - recognizing something requires that to be already known. Re-cognition.

All that appears to happen comes the exact same way it always has, uninvited, unrequested, totally spontaneous - even the thoughts which seem to plan comes spontaneously.

There is an intelligence which is obvious - we know because we see the effects - the spinning planets in perfect order, the tree forming from perfect DNA within an acorn - the sperm swimming to greet the ovum - this intelligence is obvious in everything we see and know yet we exclude ourselves - we consider ourselves separate from that intelligence - somehow an outside observer of the beauty of this, not subject to that intelligence, masters of our own little internal universe.

Yet we know that's bullshit - deep down. We don't control anything - the cells divide, die and regenerate - the heart beats, the lungs suck in air without our help - the nails and hair grow just fine - but we hold on to the intellect or thoughts as ME, as what "I" do.

The world is nothing but consciousness, aware of itself, manifesting through the prism we call "mind", senses and perception and labeling - this consciousness is the form and essence of all that appears - intelligence knowing itself.

You ask - "is no one ever responsible for their actions?" The question assumes the existence of "one" who would be responsible. It's not that there is someone as a separate entity that was responsible and now isn't - there never was anyone in existence, separate from consciousness, apart from that intelligence - no one is there to do it and then have responsibility applied.

Nothing must be done - whatever is required will come about - otherwise it will not - leave it up to that intelligence (in the hands of God) - if that sense or identity is there then leave that too up to God.

The wedge between you and God is made up of thought and has no true existence.


love
randall

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I am the one who posted the initial question. I must say that your answer did impress me. I apologise that my tone may have been initailly rather forthright! It is just there is a lot of bullshit out there and its sometimes hard to cut through that. I hate reading loads of stuff of people who are just giving mental verbiage about things they have read about rather than there real experience. Some years ago I did experience the ecstacy of the true Self for some months. But i got sick and I shut it down. And could never find it again. It wasnt just the best experience of my life - it was a completley different order of experience. It was stillness prior to movement and it was all joy!
In any case there is no real way I can say what your experience is. But your answers do ring true. Still i dont think that desriptions of what the self really is, what is really going on actually help people. you can know all kinds of things about it all but for most that is interesting but not helpful. If I was in your position i would try to do what would help people the most.

In any case thank you for your reply. Be well friend.

Unknown said...

Hello again my friend,

The true Self is not an experience that comes and goes, subject to health of the physical body. It is not an experience that arrives and then can go later.

The true Self is the pre-existing foundation for any and all experiences - the timeless condition which allows for the concepts of space and time.

These "tastes" of Self can only happen as that being/knowing/bliss is already the essence of what you are. They are not achievements due to a successful search - they are moments when the wake of striving pauses and the Self is allowed to shine through naturally.

Yet that experience of bliss becomes an indicator of what the Self is "supposed to be" - the initial joy and bliss of Self-discovery is seen as not a direct indicator of the Self but a reaction to Self-recognition in the mind.

Don't suffer over the apparent coming and going of the experience you've called true Self - know with conviction that the true Self is shining even now as the past experience is lamented - know with conviction that the true Self is the very ground of any experience and as such is fully present now.

As the true Self is your essence, it can never leave, does not appear and disappear, can not be described yet is the most obvious attribute of any experience...

It is experiencing itSelf right this very moment... knowledge of the Self, knowing itSelf, is satchitananda - being/knowing/bliss.

Satchitananda is your true essence and cannot be diminished by passing experience.


love to you
randall

Anonymous said...

Thank you again for your reply. Yes you are right. Well it is long story but I didnt exist as the True Self . It was more that i was becoming aware of the aliveness of everything and the deep prior to the world. And the 'me' became less and less significant as I became more and more intoxicated with the Happiness. But it was a kind of progressive absorbtion rather than a one time Realization.
Anyway the problem I have now is that i know about this thing but I dont have any way to enjoy it anymore. Who am I? That doesnt really help.
What makes the difference between 'knowing it' and KNOWING IT?

Randall Friend said...

My friend,

The Self is all there ever is. The Self is already knowing itSelf - right now.

Right now, there appears the identification or contraction of "I AM" - the intellectual insistence on an "I" as a separate being or life that needs to find the Self.

This identification is appearing, right this very moment - TO the Self.

Who knows this identification? What is knowing this attempt to have reunion with the Self?

This "knower" is not the individual self - the individual self appears TO the knower. This thought "I AM" appears like a passing cloud against the background of limitless sky.

The Self is knowing itSelf (chit) - this is already your true nature. And within this space of knowing appears the apparent individual who wants to find the self, like looking for your lost glasses while the glasses are sitting on your nose, enabling the vision to even search. The realization of Self is like realizing the glasses are already fully present and the very basis for any of this to appear!

Relax my friend - there is no lack of Self - no need to find it because you ARE it - if that desire to find it arises - that's a perfect manifestation of Self already - if that illusion of separate beingness falls away - that's a perfect manifestation of Self.

The Self remains, either way, unaffected, uninvolved, unchanged - if there is truly an honest look, a laying aside of assumption of "I AM" - it is perfectly clear and obvious that both the appearance and the knowing of the appearance are not-two. Simple.

Release the expectation of finding the Self and just look - the Self is already shining - not difficult to find but unavoidable!

Anonymous said...

Thank you again for such a long reply.
hmmm The thing is hard to grasp though. It seems to me Realization of the Self must be a kind of awakening. The inital experience I had was of that kind. Not an awakening to the self but a ecstatic moment where i saw everything objective to me was God! Including my own body. (This was before I ever read a spiritual book in my life. I was just 19 and a very orindary western person.
Anyway yes I think the self must be known in clarity. I can understand that you cant seek for it because that denies it to begin with.
But if you are with out that stark clarity. What do you 'do'? what makes the difference?

Randall Friend said...

Yes! Everything objective, including that body-mind, AND the knowing of these objects, IS God - these objective appearances are God knowing Himself. Any perception is dependent on the fact of perceiving, not the other way around.

So how is that different now? Is it because the initial, blissful reaction of the mind is subsided? These appearances are still God, knowing Himself - even if those appearances are of frustration, suffering - there is no one separate having these experiences - experiencing is in full evidence right this very moment! The experience itself and the experienc-er is only the dualistic creation of mind.

The mind seeks a special experience yet that requirement of a special spiritual state is seemingly what obscures. The insistence on awakening is what prevents awakening. (the insistence on awakening is the assumption that there is a "ME" who must awaken to Self - clarity reveals that no one exists to awaken - Self remains as it ever IS)

Once this is known with conviction, it is crystal clear that each blade of grass is THAT, each gust of breeze or thought of confusion or passing sensation is THAT already - no special requirement necessary - whatever IS, is THAT - God - Self... Life living itSelf, aware of itSelf.

Ananda is the limitlessness of the Self - without limits - without requirements - pure Freedom - pure Being... this "bliss" is the falling away of requirements placed on the Self to BECOME some "thing", to reveal itself...

Just this. Just God. Already.

Where does the Totality need to look to know it's true nature? What evidence can show God His own face?

Release the feeling "I had it and have lost it and need to get it back" - God cannot lose Himself, even if the mind insists otherwise...

Anonymous said...

hmmm I will ponder this for a while. I would say more and mroe but I can feel a say a lot of things from the 'place' of hurt, and regret and guilt - and they are in the end childish complaints. So i wont ask you any more about 'how' I think I need to digest this for a time.
But there is something that is troubling me greatly and that is suffering.
Of course I know - or at least can sympathetically appreciate thta from the position of the self thinsg seem very different - the self is not in jepardy. But for beings there really is much suffering. My mother, my father and everyone. And then yes I can see there is no choice - theer si just letting go and submitting to God. But right now I am just posessed by the sense that the world for human beings is just a giant torture chamber. And I am disturbed by this. again I guess this is another childish complaint. but thats what i ahve to deal with right now.
I remember that feeling of God - everything seemed alrigth. And it was not 'gallows humour'. It was true things are alright! I remember exclaiming one time out loud "I am happiness"! An ignored everything that arose with the feeling i dont need to do that because I am already happy! And to me surpise that happiness grew! Until what I saw even visually changed and i saw beautiful humerous cars and roadsigns and tea cups and urinals and it was all God! And nobody had ever told me this, I had never read it - and I saw it! And naively i would just tell everyone everything si God! dont you see? It really is! And they thought i was just having an idea. The space of happiness made me wise. But then i made some terrible errors in judement. i was not the self because it seemed to me that theer was God (the whole world) and me and sometimes less me and in the times there was less the happiness was more!
Anyway enough.
I sincely thnak you for your replys you have given me a lot to contemplate. Your wonderful!

Randall Friend said...

There is the deepest possible love arising here in light of the apparent suffering you've expressed - if you take only one thing away from the conversation, let that be that, know it or not, realize it or not, everything IS perfect as it is - God is the essence of the world, that body, that mind, that sense of the "I AM" that suffers.

God is knowing the suffering always.

As this suffering or seeking arises, something is absolutely aware of it - that something that is aware is the Self or God. Simply see that this aware presence is never EVER affected by the suffering.

Know this awareness and you'll know your true Self.


love to you, my friend
randall

Anonymous said...

Thank you again,
You have been very gracious with your time and energy.
The thing for me right now is I am coming to a kind of crisis. I can see there is no option but to ignore and give up. and from ' my' point of view that makes sense. there is only one choice, one sacrafice and I can see the absolute rightness of that. But I am also accutely aware of the darkness of life for the contracted individual. If I live this out I will suffer and die. But i can accept that because in the face of that I can give my life to God! At least there is something there which potentially i could understand. But for others. It seems so bad. My mother for example is an alcolhic. And she gets her self into some truly terrible states. There is no way she will be graced to know God in this lifetime. I just cant imagine that will happen. And any talk of the self is no help or consolation tot hat being. So her life and destiny is to suffer thsi limitation. And that seems terrible to me. And I know then ah yes it seems terrible to me. So that is an artifact that i am holding on to that is keeping me from the truth. But from my 'point' of view' it seems justified. My poor mother. what can i do? nothing! i have tried everything. And this is the crisis i am coming to - i realise you cant do anything really to releave the suffering of beings. You can love and if you were in the place of love you could help more. But thats it really. I am really feeling that we stand alone in realtion to God - until even that relatedness itself is let go. And i know there can be thoughtless happiness. But it runs against the grain of everything i have ever known. my poor mother, what can i do?
My view of ordinary life is wretched. It seems life everything is just seeking, dying and afraid. I have lost motivation. I cant find a reason to do anything and i just cant think in those ways anymore - you know looking forward to thsi experience or that. I remember when i was 20 i was told by a supposed medium.pschic person when your old and head is badl and your beard is long you will be a spiritual teacher - and i thought WOW!!!! But now i see that what difference does it make what the body can do? if i am going to die there is no great accomplishment at all. when i feel the impulse in side of me to intend this or build that, or look forward to this, or look good in this way or that i feel an immediate kind of collpase into depression. but i do remember that happiness, wheer doing thinsg for God and going to sleep in god feels so wonderful. But I feel fear all the time now. And the hurt of watching beings suffer. The fact that it is the self suffering and breathing the beings is no conolation the ones experiencing it. And that is the crisis I am coming to. I have to let go even of them. And that is a wretched prospect. Thank you for listening.

Anonymous said...

I am going to attempt to describe an experience for feedback.
I have no reference point any more it seems to figure Any of this out.
The experience here is that “IT” (sensation) arises as a feeling in the stomach and chest and is immediately labeled “Fear” by the mind. Interesting that these days in “Life Happening” here, almost No (sensation labeled fear) ever arises or is "Noticed".
When the is an “Active Participation” (who am i) self inquiry with no attempt to answer, two sensations arise almost Every time. One is the feeling of complete expansion like this focal point here gets stretched out in every direction and I loose complete sense of a body. This sensation (labeled as pleasurable) by the mind, and if Not Grasped At, leads immediately to a momentary “Blackout” (time and duration unknown) and a falling sensation that seems terrifying.

Twice, this has seemingly been “Allowed”, the first time, It was like I was floating IN the sensation, I WAS the sensation and Nothing else registered but THAT.

The second time, yesterday, in the same sequence of events, Felt the sensation arise in the body, saw the labeling (but like a very quiet voice this time)… expansion sensation, falling. This time, however “I” (not really knowing how it happened), intentionally magnified the sensation and again, “I” could not see or be Anything but that. What followed is completely unexplainable except that I spent the next half hour or so bawling my eyes out for absolutely no reason.
I couldn’t even figure out, nor was “I” trying to, whether there was sadness or extreme joy.

Really, I know that all of this stuff (feelings/sensations) come and go and I don’t even care about that right now. I don’t even want explanation or validation.
I just have No Idea What The FU^* is going on and that’s perfectly fine for some reason that I can’t fathom.

Figuring it out is just not an option>

I posted this on UGC but I really relate to how you explain and narrow down the playing field.
Thanks,
Mark Ellis

Randall Friend said...

It is only ever the mind creating these fears, sufferings, depressions... referencing a ME that is subject to these... a ME that is also a creation of mind.

Mind or thought is a sensation only - conceptualized as thoughts, my thoughts...

These sensations come to you - they appear in you, in or on what you are, this ultimate subjectivity - this true "I" - the basis of SEEING.

This is the most obvious thing in our experience, not subject to a successful search, not the product or indication of brilliant spiritual states... this is actual experience right this very moment, yet the concept of a "ME seeing" seemingly obscures.

This primacy of knowing consciousness is presently aware of ALL sensations and perceptions that come and go - which are later conceptualized as "mind, body and world".

Suffering is the the individual - freedom from suffering is the obvious reality that the individual is itself the illusion.

Suffering arises but arises to no one.

Once this is seen, the vast limitless Freedom that is your true nature is revealed. This boundless presence, being aware of itself right now, recognizing it's own limitness (from I am nothing to I am everything) - this is satchitananda...

This is your true nature already. The content of mind is irrelevant and only referencing a character that never actually existed.

Randall Friend said...

Mark,

Hello again my friend.

Who is the "I" that has no reference point? Isn't that still a reference point? Isn't that still another story?

These happenings come - without expectation of result - no need to figure it out - nothing more or better to come - simply a clear recognition of what you already are.

Assumptions naturally fall away of their own weight - the false can't stand up to scrutiny. It is the willingness to look without holding on to some expectation or concept of "enlightenment" that clears the way for reality to shine through, like the mirror reflecting cleanly once the dust has been brushed aside.

This is simply about seeing reality directly - it has nothing at all to do with spirituality or religion, although that's normally how this is translated by the mind. It is simply about realizing the concepts created in the mind which have no alignment with reality.

How does it feel when a belief falls away?

Once these concepts begin peeling back, laid aside due to an uninvited desire or earnestness for Truth, there is a natural acceptance of the obviousness of the world as only perception - the body/mind as only sensation.

There is an obviousness that was once overlooked, that the mind runs away with concepts in creating a solid and separately-existing entity of out passing sensations and perceptions which really have nothing to do with what you are, at no point come together to create this solid and separate "outside world".

If allowed, this fact or function of SEEING is recognized in it's primacy, it the fact of ultimate subjectivity to EVERYTHING - ANYTHING that arises. This is the basis of neti-neti.

Then what happens? Nothing. Nothing happens. Nothing changes. Nothing fantastic and wonderful and spiritual and mystical - nothing to write home about...

Nothing happens because there is nothing outside of you to happen, no one to tell, no prize for running a successful search...

Reality is simply seen clearly as it already is, what you already are - the being/existence/presence which is not-two, which is presently (NOW) aware of itself, looking at itself - recognizing that it is anything and everything arising - this means fullness, limitlessness, boundless, whole, not-two, advaita, nonduality...

Reality is YOU.

Anonymous said...

The mind ( Or maybe the 'me'?)is always wanting to know what it "Feels" like to "Experience" what has been termed "Oneness", "Presence Awareness", ETC., but no one who has or is experiencing THIS can describe THIS, except to give it the "Freshest" perspective or Pointer in relation only to THIS NOW and their Immediate experience of it. That's why there cannot be a "process" in time, a manual, step by step, a "This is what "I" did and you can duplicate it to achieve a desired end or future Anything, yes? Seeking these "Experiences" is another trap, but what seems to be Happening (which is now just a memory and has no substance) occurs out of nowhere during the day (Glad I work at home)and I am all that is perceived.... AND CAN'T BE DESCRIBED. What I attempted to describe on the UGC "Happens" whenever I close my eyes and ask Who am I?, usually sitting or laying down.... Immediately before I even think to answer or not, that "Expansion" then Falling then catching. As a child it happened a lot as I was falling asleep... A LOUD ringing (not in the ears but all around and in me) then Falling backwards into nothingness, then waking myself out of fear.

I totally hear all you are pointing to and maybe a reference point like "This "Seemed "To "Happen" to "ME" and it sounded like what you described as "Awareness" or "Presence".

In also hearing that the "Proposed" loss of "Self" can be accompanied by Great Fear, the mind probably hooked all that up in the way it does and made another "Story" about liberation or enlightenment of some such nonsense. Wow thanks for letting me vomit on this page>>
Did I ask you a question in all this??
Peace Friend,
Mark Ellis

Randall Friend said...

Mark,

This gets into the "this -insert experience- was what happened - what that IT?"...

The only answer can be - whatever WAS, IS, or WILL BE, is IT.

So we're once again forced to look, not at the content of experience, but the nature of EXPERIENCING itself.

Is experiencing present now? Yes - the FACT or function of experiencing, pure experiencing which is always prior to and not dependent on whatever the mind makes of EXPERIENCE (of which mind is just more of).

The nature of experiencing INCLUDES the experienc-er and the experience - this is our actual experience right this very moment, not some spiritual achievement, but right HERE and NOW.

Experiencing/SEEING is the space in which the ME SEES and the THING is SEEN. These are all dependent on the nature of seeing, not the other way around.

This seeing is not bound to anything - the "me who sees" arises as a concept, an experience, within the already fully-present seeing.

This "me" is nothing but the intellect, the various chatter of thoughts. This intellect is taken to be what we are. It's that simple.

Your true nature is already here and now - right now - present and knowing itself - obvious as the transparent presence of awareness or experiencing, the primary activity of knowing, without which the "I AM" could not arise.

love to you
randall

Anonymous said...

It's that simple huh?
Thanx guy,
Mark

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Last question. i appreciate all your words about death and depression and suffering. I can see you are always referring me to 'myself' or presumption of my self. I see that and the underlying assumption always.I I I me me me! You are always derfering me from content to source of content. And I thnak you for that and I am really deciding that I am going to comit to this observation serioulsy and function on the basis of my best understanding. Still just out of indulgence I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on suffering from your viewpoint. I realize this has nothing to do with what i need to understnad but still just out of interest. From your point of view i guess you can see veryone is being lived by the self. But surely you are not oblivious to those beings who are closed off to it and are suffering greatly. Isnt that terrible? And the recycling of those beings, isnt that terrible? why can there be suffering?

Thankyou and that will be the last question for while.

Randall Friend said...

My friend,

"From your point of view" assumes someone who sees differently or more enlightened... There is no one who "has it" and then someone who "doesn't." This is spiritual bullshit.

Seeing is happening. Right now where "you" are, SEEING is happening. The fact or function of God, knowing Himself. That's already our experience. Only the mind creates the fantasy that there is an "I" seeing.

The "I" in this case appears IN the seeing, which is prior to. The "I" in this case appears via some means of knowledge - perception or sensation.

The true "I" - the true Self - is simply that ever-present subject which is actually transparent, invisible, not appearing as another object yet the ultimate subject to all objects, including what's conceptualized as "body-mind".

As such, anything that appears, including suffering, is happening to no one - no one stands outside, separate and independent of this appearance, to suffer.

The terrible-ness of suffering is totally dependent on the individual perspective, on the identification of "ME-as-a-person" to find the situation to be terrible.

All is God - from the macro universe to the micro fields of quantum mystery - this very intelligence functioning the universe from "inside" is God or intelligence - whatever happens is simply evidence of that intelligence - yet to whom or what is this happening? Who stands apart from God to tell God "this is terrible!"

Yet ironically, realizing this doesn't lead to denial or ignoring the apparent suffering - it somehow wells up true compassion, compassion without the obligatory selfish component, simply because there is no individual self to benefit.

As such, that "other" who is suffering is not other than my very own Self - that suffering is known not as "someone else's" suffering but another manifestation or expression of God's Presence.

As such there is no wall or limit to the Love and Compassion that arises - the Self-sacrifice that arises is complete and total - yet that cannot come as long as there is a ME involved, because, even if we claim to be concerned about the suffering of others, as long as there is identification with the ME there will always be the ultimate concern with the ME and "others" come second.

Nothing is ever lost - nothing can be removed from God - God is complete and present, presently knowing Himself right this very moment, knowing Himself AS THIS MOMENT, AS this presence or Existence which is only ever separated in concept.

Diomedies said...

Hi Randall!
I love and am deeply impressed by your post and your courageous responses to all the comments. I have an idea I would like to through out here. In the spontaneous compassion that arises in me sometimes I find it's more successful to let my talk about spiritual understanding become less deep so that it becomes more easily understandable to them and allow them to make the step forward themselves. I use storys and metaphors to help to help them conceptually be better equipped spiritually, something like which I think you do here. So my question is, given the chance to help people, don't you think suggesting techniques like meditation is more efficient than explaining your own personal understanding? Then doesn't conceptual understanding (of these techniques) at some point prove worthwhile?

I look forward to your response :)
Thanks.

Randall Friend said...

My friend,

Who is it that let's the talk become less deep? Consciousness is all, this is blindingly obvious if there is a laying aside of identifications, assumptions, beliefs - there is no "you or me" doing it - there is not now nor has there ever been anyone in control of thoughts or actions.

This is not something "I" have and can teach and "you" don't and need to learn - this is Reality - you ARE Reality itself. All else is only appearance.

The arising of suffering followed by the compassion and directness of teaching or "letting it be less deep" is simply a play happening across the face of Consciousness itself. Yet ironically it is the holding on to the assumption of a ME that "let's it be this or that", that is itself the illusion.

Life is left as it is, the appearance is left unchanged - yet the very essence of Reality is known to be the Self - waves of appearance across the vast ocean of Consciousness - this is so obvious that it is constantly overlooked in the insistence of an individual doer, responsible for "his own" suffering or "his own" teaching of ending suffering.

When Consciousness has forgotten its primacy - its Presence AS all there ever is, due to attachment or identification with objects that SEEM to be separate, suffering arises in the mind. It is only a ME that can suffer.

There is no one writing, no one reading, no one suffering, no one teaching and no one living - Life is living itself, right now, experiencing itself, Loving itself... fooled by illusion, suffering may arise as "someone" who suffers... realizing that it was only ever itSelf, suffering is known to be only another crashing wave within the sea of Self - not in need of fixing, no one to help - yet for some unknowable reason "help" seems to find it's way in the form of pointing or "teaching" - the Self, teaching itSelf - which really is God, loving Himself.

Look to the true "I", the source from which all "things" come and go, the pure fact or function of witnessing or non-conceptual cognizing that is not appearing as a subject, that is the knowing of all appearances - good or bad, right or wrong, suffering or joy...

THAT IN WHICH the suffer-er and teach-er have their dependence.

love to you
randall