Sunday, January 10, 2010

There are no objects

Duality is imagination only. THAT there is a world of things in existence, with "you" only a small, insignificant and limited "part", is part and parcel of this dualistic equation.

The instant a label is applied, reality is seemingly split up. We talk about awareness, then the world arises in awareness. From that platform, awareness is apparently owned, possessed, contained, limited. It's an unresolvable paradox - why is this so? Because a "thing" cannot BE another "thing". A "thing" stands apart and IS only a thing BECAUSE it ISN'T another "thing". In asserting it's "thingness", it must stand alone in space and time.

So we have awareness and experience - subjective and objective - and in even calling them as such, their duality is forever solidified. Their separate reality is seemingly solid and true. Yet we're still spellbound by words, still caught in the labels, which project reality as separate. Yes?

What is experience? Sensation. Perception. What is awareness? Experienc-ING. Sens-ING. Perceiv-ING.

So here is a sensation - breathing. It's a familiar sensation. What is the relationship of the sensation called "breathing" and the awareness OF that sensation? Where is that sensation at? Where is that awareness at? Where does the sensation start and end? Where does awareness start and end? Where is the boundary or dividing line between sensation/experience and awareness?

Aren't "sensation" and "awareness" two words for the SAME REALITY? Two words for the same nondual reality? Two words for "what IS"? Two words which seemingly split up "what IS" into subject and object?

And from there, that "subject" is given a name, that "object" is given a name, and the story is woven. Separate reality is projected, imagined.

The word "object" is just a concept. There is no such thing. And without an object, can there be a "subject"?

No. There is only WHAT IS, and then that is broken up in concepts to create this imaginary story called "My Life". You're entire life is nothing but this false story, built on the shakiest of platforms.

You ARE this nondual reality. The "real" YOU - IS the totality.

14 comments:

tom sullivan said...

Keen pointing; I particularly like your looking for the "boundary" between sensation and awareness.

No One In Particular said...

Hey Randall, excellent. It's tricky at the best of "times", describing direct experience; impossible. These words are some of the best I've read.

Mahamati said...

Skilfull, lucid pointing, Randall! It is said: "All beings return to unity, but this unity never embraces itself as unity..."

Scarfox said...

Reminds me of Mark Twain:

"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"

Anonymous said...

Hey Randall! Great words... again. Nice hammer, nice hammer :)

Anonymous said...

Dear friend,
What a lovely website with very clear pointers. I would just like to ask a question though. Atman is brahman - yes this is incontrovertible. Direct experience confirms it. In fact it is impossible to disprove it. It's permanency makes it the sole reality for it is the only permanent thing. But one little question. OK so you have your average Joe who believes he is an isolated individual in a materialistic world bumping into other objects all around him. Fair enough. Then he gets depressed or something and starts looking for an alternative to this world view. He then realises that he is the world and so the illusion of separation ends. Now just a question. If from the beginning he was always part of brahman (which he was - it's undeniable), is it brahman who then decides when this little party trick of duality subsides? Surely him being nothing more than an aspect of brahman is then totally subject to brahmans will. So surely this means that some people will be enlightened and see that they are brahman while others will see themselves as dualistic. So brahman pulls itself out of duality (for enlightened people) but keeps them in the 'fun play' (for the rest of the world). And if brahman has no meaning or purpose or direction (we can't prove it has purpose for that would be value which would simply be a tiny manifestation of brahman so not absolute and not a real judgment)then is not just totally haphazard? And if so isn't spiritual enlightenment just a lottery - a lucky discovery for a few in brahman's game - a ticket brahman gives to the parts of itself playing dualistic games (the 'individual')to return to their source, while the rest continue in their games? If so this is pretty bleak for humanity don't you think...well what do you think friend? If you're bored you could also check out my blog - I'm trying to make nonduality accessible by inventing routes to realisation and things...another one of brahman's games I guess...http://awareconsciousness.blogspot.com
peace

Randall Friend said...

Tom,

Hello my friend. Love to you.

There is no individual "I" - "I" is itself Brahman, which IS. All you can say for certain is that you ARE, you exist. That existence, that certainty of aliveness, is itself that Brahman. And Brahman is the only reality.

Therefore YOU are the only reality. The appearance of body, mind or world are due to ignorance of your true Self as Brahman, as the WHOLE, the totality itself. Mind applies duality and the individual comes into existence in concept, the body is formed as reality, just like a mirage.

So there is no question as to why Brahman does this or that. It is only your Self. All questions searching for meaning or purpose are nonsense questions - there IS no meaning. Meaning is for mind alone. Mind is like a wave upon the vast ocean of Brahman itself - it is never apart from THAT. Wave is never not-ocean. Any movement, any "game" is only that nondual reality, that one essence expressing as this and that, only said to be so in the mental translations.

There is no reaching that totality, for it is YOU, my friend. Ever and ever and ever, just this knowing/being presence, which never begins and ends.

Thank you for your comments.

love
randall

t said...

"So there is no question as to why Brahman does this or that. It is only your Self."

sure there's a question. so why doesn't my SELF wake up to itself HERE and NOW? and for millions of 'others'?

just say 'I don't know.'

it's a crapshot

Randall Friend said...

T,

There is a stubborn insistence on individual "selfness", which can then later "wake up". It is that belief in the individual who doesn't "have it" which then propels the belief that there is something later to get.

That is false.

There may come an openness, a willingness to simply question that individual - find out if it's true, not rely on the same assumptions and beliefs which speak of the individual.

And in that questioning, in that doubting, in that investigating the sense "I am separate" it may been seen as false. Yet to continue to stand upon the belief as true, all questions then assume that to be unquestionable and ask based on that assumption.

Therefore the question itself is false. "Why doesn't my SELF wake up" is nonsense. There is no "my Self" as an individual apart from "others".

Right here and now - reality is nondual. There are not two "things". Since you are certain that you exist, and no investigation can bring doubt to that fact, you must be that reality itself, that essence.

Upon that nondual reality is applied a belief - duality - thingness - with T as a small, insignificant, limited individual. The only way out of this "veiled reality" is to question the very veil itself.


love
randall

t said...

"Upon that nondual reality is applied a belief - duality - thingness"

applied by Self and can only be removed by Self which doesn't happen for the overwelming majority of non existent "people".even the ones trying.
crapshoot

Anonymous said...

"You are the only reality."

Thank you Randall, this pointer alone can undercuts the notion of a me and reveals your true nature.

The subject-object thinking is no more "covering" the natural state, just with this pointer.

Like in a dream, there are apparent people, places and things, but there is only you dreaming, everything in the dream was yourself. Like, right now, in the waking state everything you see is you, there is only you.

You don't have to do something to see that, it is already the case and you are already seeing that, there is just this notion of a me that seems to "cover" that and seems to stand apart from you real being, but, in looking at this, it is not true and this way, the basis of the questions and doubts dissolves.

Randall Friend said...

T,

If you're going to stubbornly insist on that individuality, then at least enjoy it while it lasts. It can literally end at any time.

This blog and these comments are not to convince anyone of anything. See for yourself, or don't. It really is irrelevant after all.


love
randall

Randall Friend said...

Ghebrey,

Beautifully said, my friend.



love
randall

Admin said...

"I" love "your" pointing style. Beautiful! Thank you Randall.