Namaste

In India, many people greet each other with the words "Namaste" - this is joined usually by a slight bow and palms touching in front, sort of like a prayer gesture.

Namaste means - literally - I bow to you - but the way it's used - or the meaning behind it I suppose - is "I bow to God in you" or "I bow to that in you which is God".  

Many people in spiritual circles have adopted this expression and use it constantly - I would reckon many don't truly understand the significance.  IF they did, their search would be over instantaneously.  To most, especially in the West, it's just another thing, along with beads and chants, to feel more spiritual.

What are they really saying, when they are addressing someone with the expression "Namaste"?  Aren't they saying - there is some part of you that is God - there is some part of you that is Essence or Absolute or whatever word we want to use for that Divinity?  And if everyone can be addressed with "Namaste", aren't we really saying that everyone has that Divinity as part of what they are?

Now if everyone is part Divinity, what is the remainder?  Is it like a mixed drink - I'd like a whiskey and coke?  So I'm part Divinity and part an individual entity which was created and stand alone apart from everything else?  Wouldn't the Divine include everything else which might be included?  Is there a partial Divine?  A partial Wholeness?  Ha!  So sort of by definition, that Divinity INCLUDES that hint of the individual, the feeling of individuality or the mechanism BY WHICH the Divine is aware of this whole thing - the experience we call "world".

This expression "Namaste" honors the individual, which is an expression of the Divinity - and points to the fact that IN ESSENCE - you are that Divinity - that Divinity is addressing itself in this way, yes?

So this expression is a teaching - actually a potent pointer - when grasped it can eradicate the idea of the individuality as what-you-are and point towards the fact that you are THAT ESSENCE itself, that Divinity, that FROM WHICH the individual comes and goes.  So the Indians, even if they don't understand it, are pointing towards that simple recognition each time.

Namaste, my friends.

Life is happening

What else can we say but Life is happening.  All around us.  In every cloud that forms and passes, in every thought that forms and passes, in every person that forms and passes.  Life is happening.  Life is what-IS - if we must, if we CAN give what-IS a name. 

Can we truly separate the cloud and the thought and the body?  Can we find a different essence in each "thing", in each appearance, in each pattern?  If we can find a different essence - if there are two patterns with distinctly different essences, then we have debunked the spiritual search - we have found that the world truly IS two, or more.  However if we cannot find different essences, only differences in the patterns or manifestations OF that essence, then the world truly is not-TWO.

Many in appearance, one in essence.  

So where do you sit in all this?  Here you are, trying to make sense of it all, trying to figure it all out.  This body is just a pattern itself - these thoughts are simply patterns.  The essence remains the same.  Because of this intelligence there is the capacity to inquire into what I am.  In order to do that, I must first have assumed that I am something separate and other-than, yes?  So with that stake in the ground I must find something to change that basic fact.  But if it's true I can't change it.  IF I am truly something separate, no amount of spiritual seeking can change that.  No samadhi is going to make me one with the universe.  It is cool for a while but then I'm back to my plain old ordinary life.

So we're not trying to change our nature but understand what that nature IS.  And we may finally understand that we've always had an incorrect idea about the nature of reality, about the nature of Life.  We've taken the multitude of appearances, of different patterns, as different "things" - complete with their own independent essences.  When we really put down the spiritual games and dive into this idea itself, we find it to be false.  And because it's false, we realize that, although there are infinite appearances or patterns, there is truly only one essence - whatever we want to CALL it.

Therefore we realize that what-I-AM is not something OTHER THAN, not something different, not something independent - what-I-AM is THAT, that essence, THAT FROM WHICH all appears, expresses, patterns.  

There is nothing that I am not, nowhere that I am not.

So whether it's a bustling rush-hour, a stroll beside a peaceful lake, or the moment before the big bang, what IS is WHAT I AM.  That is the point of every single post on this blog.  There can be 5000 posts but they are all pointing to one basic thing - you ARE THAT already - don't try to GET THERE but realize you are already THAT, already THERE. 

Part 5 - Diving into Mithya

We have been looking at this concept called "Mithya" from Vedanta.  Mithya means - that which has no existence of it's own, that which comes and goes - that which is unreal of itself - that which depends on something else for it's existence or reality.

Sat means - IS.  Sat is IS-ness.  Sat is the reality- it is WHAT-IS.  

So right this very second, something IS.  Something exists.  We are quite sure of that, however we are in sort of a jumble about what it is that exists.  Yet something exists, right now.  What IS that something?

We point and say - the tree exists.  The rock exists.  This body exists.  How do you know?  Because I see them.  I hear them.  I feel them.  I might even taste them.  I SAY they exist because I cognize them via one or more of the 5 senses.  So because they are available to me for observation I assert that they exist.  That's what we really mean.

So that thing, that appearance, AS it appears at the moment, AS it appears via the eyes or via the ears - that thing AS it seems to be - that thing exists.  We're making an assumption here - the assumption is that our senses are giving us data on an outside world, exactly as it appears with no modification.  That tree looks exactly as I see it through this mechanism called seeing.  The rock next to the tree is exactly as I see it.  That blue sky is exactly as I see it.

Now the ant comes along - the ant sees the tree and the rock and the sky.  Or a bee comes buzzing along.  The bee sees the tree or the rock or the sky.  Now we might be able to google it and find out that a bee's eye is made up of hundreds of little eyes - this doesn't provide a hundred little pictures of the world but it serves to define the visible world differently - colors appear differently - things aren't quite as sharp.  It's either fact of myth that the cat has night vision - to the cat the world looks a lot different.  Same with the bee - just about any other living creature sees the world differently.  

So who's got it right?  Who sees the world exactly as it really is?  Is the human eyesight right and the rest of the living world sees an incorrect or faulty view?  Or maybe the bee actually sees perfectly and we get the faulty view?   We can't know, because we can't ask the bee, and we can't measure unless we look with our own set of eyes.  We don't have the definitive measurement - we don't have the absolute view to compare our view to, to see how it measures up to seeing what's actually there.  So we believe that OUR view IS the absolute - the definitive measurement of the empirical world.

It's arrogant to believe that your picture of the world is the absolute view of it, the absolutely correct view- that the human view of it is the only one that's correct, when all these others are different.  But it doesn't matter that it's arrogant - it matters that we REALIZE our mistake - realize that our view is not absolute.

So what about the blue sky?  Or the blue water in the ocean?  Can you go out and get a bucketful of blue water?  No.  It's not really blue.  Nor is the sky blue.  Yet if you ask 100 people you'll get 100 confirmations that the sky is blue.  That's because we take what we SEE, what we EXPERIENCE, as ABSOLUTE.  We take that appearance to BE exactly as it APPEARS, yes?  Our way of thinking is that if we are experiencing it - if it's empirical knowledge, it's factual.  It's true.  For that to be true it would require our senses to be perfect holes, perfect receivers of what's really there, with no modifications, no filtering, no skewing, no interpretation.  

There are many books you can read - I'll leave that up to you to google - but it's common knowledge among brain scientists that the brain and nervous system filters out 99% of all data received by the senses.  That means what you're actually seeing or hearing or feeling or tasting or smelling represents 1% of the available data.  1%...  Let that sink in.

1%.  You're getting only 1% of what's really there.  The brain is automatically filtering out 99% of sensory data.  So what does the world really look like?  Can you ever know?  Can you turn off that filtering function and get all 100% of it? 

So what we know empirically is absolutely flawed.  It is in no way accurate of what's really there.  We don't know what the Hell a tree really is.  We don't have any idea what BLUE is - not to mention a blue sky.  We have a very customized picture, just like the bee does, just like the cat does, which allows the human body to function as it needs to function, however the absolute-ness of what we know has now come under doubt.  We are no longer certain of what we see.  We can no longer trust what we know to be 100% accurate in representation of WHAT-IS.  All we can say is that we know what APPEARS to us.  

That appearance is a modified appearance, by the nature of the way the brain and nervous system filter out unnecessary data.  We can drive a car and be pretty certain that we're staying in our lane, however if we're engaged in a spiritual or ontological path, we must consider that what we know via the senses is not absolute.  

That doesn't mean that it's an illusion, in the way we think of illusion.  It doesn't mean that nothing is there.  Something is there.  We just cannot say any longer that what we know empirically is the absolute truth.

Look around.  Is the world actually defined exactly as you are seeing it?  Is it possible that your picture of this room, this computer screen, these hands on the keyboard - is it possible that what's really there looks different from your view?

Ponder and we'll chat again soon.

Part 4 - Mithya

This is not a work of fiction.  If you're sitting back, waiting for the last chapter to be written, just so that you can jump ahead and find the answers, you'll be frustrated and unsatisfied.  Unless you come along for the ride, unless you seriously look into these things, you'll remain sort of stuck with the concepts you've accepted, seeing through that particular filter.  These words won't give you anything - they cannot give you the understanding - they can only give you an insight into that understanding.  If you look into these things, an opening may come - a parting of the dark clouds.  The sun might start peeking through because it is your understanding.  You aren't given anything but come to the understanding naturally through investigation of your ideas.

This has been the theme of the past few blog posts - really getting to the down and dirty about our ideas - the ideas of the world, of reality, and of what-the-HELL-we-are....  If we had no doubts we wouldn't need to look - but then we likely wouldn't be in the midst of a spiritual search.

Now that I've seriously dived deep into the ideas I have about myself, I realize there is more doubt than truth there.  The more I poke around those ideas the more I find I'm full of shit.  I find I truly don't have a clue what I am - I believe what I was told, that I was created, that I am a new existence.  It is this idea that IS the idea of separation itself, because really the core of that idea is that existence is something which comes in individual servings.  Each "thing" is an existence-of-itself, a separate thing, an independent piece.  It stands alone - it comes anew and then goes - it is born and dies.  

And that idea I have of myself is no different.  I HAVE a life, I am living a life, as a separate entity, a "person", a thing-among-infinite-things...  This is the core, root idea of myself.  So the root, default, de-facto idea is that I am separate.  That reality is separate.  Is this not absolutely the truth about your idea of yourself and reality?

Let that slam you right in the face.  You're off on this spiritual search for wholeness or oneness or enlightenment or whatever - looking for oneness, being told that reality is whole or one, yet the very root belief you have about yourself and reality is that it IS separate.  You believe this and it takes a miracle, maybe an act of Congress (which is truly a miracle these days) to get you to even question that idea.  

So you've now questioned it and come up with no answers, yes?  You haven't found the answer, you've just found that you have no real basis for this idea that you were born, you have no truth, only assumptions.  That's all you need.  Doubt.  You must doubt this idea that you were born, just give doubt the smallest crack in the door, become a skeptic about yourself, about these ideas of birth and death, separation.  

Because once we seriously doubt reality as we've believed it to be, then we're truly out there - swinging with no net - out in the ether somewhere - the ground has been pulled out from under us.  The solid support we had with our erroneous beliefs is now shaky.  We are in the perfect place to really begin to ask questions about reality, to really look into what I might be, what my true nature might be.  Until that ground is shaky, it's like we're on the ground, watching the roller coaster go up the tracks, smiling at and excited for the people on board, however we're not going anywhere.  So let's jump on the rollercoaster.

Vedanta has a term called Mithya.  Mithya means "that which comes and goes".  So Vedanta is a means of knowing yourself, so let's go along with it until either we understand what's being pointed to, or we just discard it as bullshit.

Mithya means - that which comes and goes.  Vedanta says - the world is Mithya.  The person is Mithya.  Even Consciousness is Mithya.  This means everything we know, even the capacity of knowing it, comes and goes.  

One caveat needs to be put in place here.  When we say "everything we know" - we mean everything we know objectively.  Because you know yourself, yet it isn't objective, and it isn't coming and going.  YOU don't come and go.  You are there and you know you're there, BECAUSE you know things are coming and going, yes?  That "YOU" isn't objective - you don't get a look at it - you can't give it a color or shape or size.  It's just YOU - the subjective "I".  Yet you don't even know THAT without Consciousness first arriving and displaying the world, the body, and the mind, yes?

And because there is a world, that is, because objective experience is happening, you posit an "I" as the subject.  That "I", then, must behave, must exist, according to the laws of this world we know.  In other words that "I" then is just another one of these independent things or existences which was born and will die.  

The problem with this, really the reason it's reinforced and so difficult to discard, is because of the identification with the body-mind.  Then what-we-are IS that body-mind, that body-mind was born as a thing in the world - that means it obeys the rules of all other things.  That means YOU are just another entity - a separate entity.  

But the solution to this is really really simple, if we are truly on that shaky ground, if we're actually on that roller coaster and not watching from the safe ground.  In a dream the body does all sorts of things, yet we'll discard the identification with that immediately because we truly believe it was just a dream and this waking state is the real state.  But that has no basis in objective experience or empirical evidence.  The dream was just as real as is this very moment.  You truly have no way of knowing the difference at that time.

So the body in the dream wasn't you - it was objective.  Yet now, right this very moment, that body is also objective - "I" is not.  That mind is objective - "I" is not.  You aren't the body-mind.  You weren't the body-mind that appeared in the dream last night and are not the body-mind that is appearing right this moment.

Also, we might say Consciousness is there because of that chemical we call "body" - Consciousness is a capacity which depends on that body-chemical, but YOU aren't the chemical.  You are the intelligence which takes advantage of the capacity of that chemical.  

So the world (including the body-mind) is Mithya - the world comes and goes.  What comes and goes has no actual existence of itself.  It is a transient appearance, a pattern.  The appearance of it is what is coming and going.  The actual existence, what it IS, isn't coming and going, yes?  So what does that mean?

It means that existence - Vedanta calls it SAT - Sat just means "IS" - existence or that which IS, does not come and go of itself but it's EXPRESSIONS are what is coming and going.  Sat is what is real.  Sat is reality.  Sat cannot be modified - Sat cannot be changed.  However Sat expresses - reality expresses - that expression appears - that expression is called Mithya.

So this is an equation that can be applied to our present situation.  You are looking at a computer screen - words - light...  The clouds are in the sky - the sun is in the sky.  The sun has come and will go.  The clouds have come and will go.  The words on the screen have come and will go.  The computer even has come and will go.  The hands on the keyboard - the body - the thoughts going on  -these all came and will go - probably for a time tonight and eventually for good they will go.

Yet THAT which is YOU in this equation, that isn't something that comes and goes.  Only your ideas about it come and go.  Your knowledge of it comes and goes - that is - you can say "I AM" only because of this capacity called Consciousness.  Even "I AM" - that idea or knowledge - comes and goes.

So in this equation, the world, body and mind is Mithya.  You are Sat.  Ponder that and we'll chat again soon.

Part 3 - Conviction and Doubt

We've been looking at the ideas we have - about what we are, about what the world is, about what is reality...

Instead of leaving a vague idea in place to dictate our paradigm of reality, we've decided to overturn the rock, poke into the bushes with a stick, stir up the bees nest...  we've decided to go where we generally don't like to go - into the unknown, into the darkness.  We've determined that the only way to get to the bottom of it is to really get a look at the idea we have about what-we-are and see if it makes any sense.

Because otherwise we're just being carried around with the basic assumptions - our view of reality is dictated by this most basic belief in separation - separation means the idea that things exist of themselves, they come into existence independently.  

So we must come to a conviction one way or another - this conviction is critical.  On the one hand, instead of living with a vague undefined idea of yourself, go fully into the idea of separation - embrace it - find out that it's true and then there is no longer a need to seek wholeness or oneness.  Because if this idea you have about yourself is true, then separation is true and spirituality is a fantasy, an interesting hobby but nothing more.  If you can come to this conviction, then your search is over.

On the other hand, if you do poke into it and cannot confirm this idea of separation, of independent existences which come and go, then the conviction must be the other way.  It's not adopting a new belief system - but maybe it's a conviction that the idea I have about myself is NOT true even if I don't know yet what I am.  I can truly DOUBT this idea of separation, I can truly DOUBT the idea that what-I-am comes and goes, even if I cannot replace this idea with another one.  

It is this doubt that is the spiritual fuse - once this is lit spirituality takes on a new dimension - a new flavor.  It's no longer a hobby.  It's a fire that burns up everything.  My comfortable idea I have is ripped out and I'm left without anything to rest on - I must get to the bottom of it.  I am willing to look at the possibility that I am the whole after all.  I am willing to inquire truthfully into these ideas and completely discard what I find to be false.

This means we need something other than our existing belief system - we need something to point in the right direction.  Most religions are trying to do this, however they are clouded with additional confusion which makes it difficult to see the underlying message.  But even a walk in the park can be a pointer, a spiritual message.  In fact just sitting here now at your computer, each experience, each sensation - eventually we will see that THIS is IT, right here and now.  

Vedanta is another system - another pointer - another means of knowledge to come to know what you are.  Vedanta simply provides an occasion for doubt - it questions what we think and provides other possibilities.  It points out things which are undeniable and forces us into a corner - there may be a break in the paradigm of separate thing-ness and a realization that reality is not-two.

So through this, we come to realize that my existing ideas about what-I-am are dubious, doubtable, and something like Vedanta might be needed to point me in the right direction.  

And ultimately we realize that we never went anywhere - we never needed to move one inch from where we are now, we never needed to become anything other than what we are now.  We find that it was only our idea about what-we-are that was incorrect - nothing changed except the false fell away.

Part 2 - Existence

So as we've been seeing, our nature is dubious according to our own ideas.  We aren't sure what we are - we have never really looked into it.  That means we've taken what we have been told as gospel without much challenge.  And even then we aren't sure what the nature of that idea is, after all these years.  

We really take ourselves to be an entity, something which exists, something which was not there before, then something happened - the parents got together and mixed cells - the cells sprouted more cells - the cells kept doubling and doubling - until that mass of cells - until that pattern of cells - begins to look like a fetus, with a head, arms, a little face, little feet...  we might even give it a name.  So it's a form with a name, a bundle or mass or pattern of cells.  Is that you?  Are you there immediately, or does consciousness need to arrive first?

If you are there immediately, then you are saying that you arrive with the matter, with the cells, with the form - obviously you don't arrive with just the name!  Therefore in this case you are just matter, just a certain mixture or pattern of cells.  In the latter case, you arrive with consciousness.  This is closer to actuality.  This means you arrive with the arrival of the ability or capacity to experience, yes?  

The first thing to see here is that your idea is that you did not exist prior, either way.  You believe that WHAT-YOU-ARE is something which wasn't there, then began, goes on for a while, then ends.  We'll talk about the ending part soon.  But it's critical to see that this is definitely your idea about yourself.  IS it or is it NOT?  Get a real good grip of this idea - really understand that it's the root idea you have about yourself.  

That means you believe that existence is divided - you believe - because you are the PROOF of it - that existence is something which comes in individual servings - that means existence must be divided - split up - a new existence comes and and old existence ends, yes?  That means your idea of existence is division - separation, yes?  Now you are here trying to either find HOW existence is whole, or how to MAKE existence whole, yes?  

So we must absolutely see that the second item is completely futile.  We can never make existence whole.  If you are divided, nothing you can do can MAKE existence whole.  Are you trying to SEE reality AS whole?  What exactly are you trying to accomplish in spirituality?  It is this muddyness which is very frustrating.  Clear out the mud - get to the bottom of it - come to this certainty - no limited entity - no limited action can ever MAKE existence unlimited or whole, yes?  Can you meditate it away?  Can you make yourself whole where you are now separate?  By what means would that happen?  So notice it's a fantasy and be done with that.

The other alternative is - what we're saying is that reality or existence is ALREADY whole.  If that's the case, then that root idea I have about what-I-am is false, and always was false.  I didn't do anything to make myself whole - I just AM.  Yet I have an incorrect idea that I am an entity, a separated individual existence.  So what do I need to do?  If we can really get to this point - that's the prime door opening for Vedanta to flower, for a realization of what you are to happen.

If this latter instance is true, then we must revisit the idea of that fetus - where did we go wrong in our analysis of what we are?  We don't have to question the scientific facts of procreation - we just need to question whether or not a new existence was created in the process, or if it is only pattern or forms which are created and destroyed.  So for this part in the series, dive into the reality of any form - it makes no difference what that form might be - a tree - a flower - a fetus - a bowling ball - just ask - what IS it?  If you don't take that seriously you aren't hurting anyone but if you do take it seriously, dive into the form - see what it's made of.

Like the pot - pot is a concept - a name for a particular form, shape.  When we shape clay in such a way as to hold and pour water, we call that a pot.  But is pot a new existence?  Does pot exist alone?  Did pot come into existence?  If so, at what point on the sculpter's wheel did it begin to exist?  Even at it's final shape, is it a different existence from clay? 

In fact aren't pot and clay the exact same thing?  Isn't it clay-shaped-and-painted?  Isn't clay just given a new name based on it's new expression?  If pot breaks, can we say Pot Died?  What happened to clay?  Can we then melt down the pieces again and make another pot, or a bowl, or a cup?  

Consider these things deeply and we'll return soon with part 3.

Part 1 - What you take yourself to be

More and more it seems that the traditional Vedanta method of slowing working through our identifications and illusions, slowing breaking them down and uprooting our default beliefs, is more helpful than just pointing out the ultimate which is that you are already whole, that reality is already whole.  Either that resonates and we're just nodding our heads in agreement, or we're left scratching our heads because from our perspective it just doesn't make any sense.  Unless we just make a leap of faith, these absolute pointers are somewhat limited.

So let's just have a conversation, over several weeks, about our ideas, our beliefs, our assumptions.  Let's start taking them apart - feel free to comment and we can have a discussion about it. 

The most important thing we can do in spirituality is to really be honest, really get to the bottom of our existing ideas.  We tend to overlook this and then try to plunge headfirst into the pointers or challenges - leaving these ideas in tact while trying to make sense of the teachings.  It's a recipe for frustration.  Therefore let's start by really getting to the bottom of what we now believe reality is, what we NOW believe that WE ARE, yes?  It is critical to really understand what we THINK we are.

We believe that the universe came about in a big bang, a infinitely small but infinitely powerful particle exploded and expanded in all directions - this became the universe - a collection of parts - each created individually - each existing individually - from nothing each part is created, then it runs it's course and eventually ceases, dies, dissolves.  This means the universe is an infinite collection of separate existences, THINGS, parts, pieces.  

Eventually bodies spring up one way or another.  A Body is a product of the mother and father, cells combine and that original "cell" fertilizes, grows, morphs into a fetus, the necessary organs form and eventually that fetus kicks it's way out of the womb - then we call it an infant.  After 9 months we say it's born. 

At this point we must stop and really take a good look at what our beliefs are about this "thing", this fetus, this infant, this mass of cells, this fertilized seed.  We believe the mother and father are "people" - what does that mean?  They are individuals, entities, which is a fancy way of saying - they are separate.  They were also born and grew to this point.  Once this seed is fertilized, it grows the proper way and eventually a "person" is formed, another "life".  Therefore this fetus is another person, another life, another entity, therefore another separate existence, yes?

From these two seeds, the mother and father, the new separate existence is born.  This existence was not there before.  It did not exist, then because of this process it began existing, yes?  From nowhere it came into existence - then it will exist a while and ultimately will cease to exist again.  Isn't this entity what you take yourself to be?  Isn't this root idea of beginning, this temporary nature of existence, isn't this the root idea you have about yourself?  Isn't it in fact the idea you have about reality?  This universe of things?  Isn't your root idea of reality that it is made up of separate, individual, temporary existences?

Now consider that you are entertaining spirituality, not just spirituality in general, not some New Age thing where we must all hug and get along, but serious spirituality where we are questioning your very existence as a separate being, inquiring "who am I"?  Are you running along in this search, trying to find Wholeness or Oneness or somesuch, while retaining this idea that YOU, in fact EXISTENCE itself, is separate?  

Can you see that continuing to have this default set of assumptions or beliefs in tact while pursuing and hoping after some generic idea of "Oneness" is fantasy?  We wonder why we "aren't there yet" or just have an "intellectual understanding".  We must really get to the root idea of what our ideas are, uncover them, really get a good understanding of this idea we have about ourselves and the universe.  We must be serious and earnest about it.

Consider what you take yourself to be, then consider what you are searching for, or consider what this teaching is telling you.  You were never born, you are not separate, you will never die.  How can you reconcile that with your beliefs about what you are?  You cannot do it, ever.  So something has to give.

The advice is to put all these pointers aside for a while, just do some serious soul-searching - pun definitely intended.  Don't stop until you have a crystal-clear picture of what it is you take yourself to be, of what it is you take reality to be.  For Vedanta says that reality is Advaita - Advaita means "not-two".  Reality is already nondual, not separate.  Reality is called "Brahman" - and ultimately there is no difference between Self and Brahman. 

So before we can really understand this we must truly understand where we think we are now.  Ponder that with earnest and we'll begin to dive into these ideas over the next several weeks.  

That Which Is Present

Where can this entity be found?  Is it in the neuron?  The cell?  The nerve?  The atom?  The blood?  The bone?  Is there some "one" located in this body?  Are you in the mind?  Do you have a mind?  Do you use a mind?  Are you in the head?  Are you in the middle of the head?  Behind the eyes?  Between the ears?  In the left lobe?  The right? 

If we cannot scientifically locate the individual in the brain, even though we can zoom down into the subatomic level, then where exactly is it located?  

There is a presence - you are there.  You are confident about that, as you should be.  You know you exist.  That cannot be denied.  However to tie that existence into some entity abiding in the brain or head is complete mythology, no different from some God which lives in the sky.  There is no entity there.  

We get confused when we hear that - it makes sense but then we say "yet I'm here!"  Yes - but can we disconnect the obviousness of present existence/awareness with the mythology of individuality?  Can we lay aside this idea for a bit, detach completely from it so that a genuine inquiry can be made into what you might be?  In the absence of some individual entity, yet in the obviousness of aware presence, we might intuit that there is an intelligence present, that which we call Life, THAT which is presently aware.  

The leap is truly that short - THAT which truly IS - that singular existence or essence - THAT is presently aware - if we speak of a body-mind organism, of Consciousness, then we can say that Life is aware because of that mechanism, because of that capacity called Consciousness.  

The obvious begins to sort of open up - what-I-AM is THAT which IS, that existence - that essence.  Life, if we must give it a name.  This realization dissolves the myths I have about myself and the obvious becomes obvious.  I didn't have to do anything to BE that.  I already AM that, only the idea that I am an individual precludes the obvious truth that I am Life itself.  

So THAT which you know as "I", that which is always present and aware, THAT is not a mythical person but Life itself, aware of itself.  Realization is simply the falling away of the false.  The true isn't added or changed but only realized.

Source

We can go on forever in spirituality, seeking out answers.  It is always something like:

I am seeking

I need to find answers

I have this problem

I had this experience

I want that experience

I need to find Peace

I need to find out what I am

So the entire thing revolves around that entity, that "I" you take yourself to be, that person, that independent existence, that thing which was created anew, that being which stands apart, which began on such-and-such date and time, that seeker who was born and will someday die.

The point isn't to somehow find a way to be a successful seeker, to find answers FOR this "I".  The point is to realize what it is you take yourself to be - to realize that the entire thing revolves around this idea of an independent, temporary being, something which began, someone who is finite.  It is that idea of yourself which is the problem.  Finding success in spirituality isn't FOR that "I" - it is in seeing through that "I" - seeing through that idea itself.

So if you're plodding along with that idea completely intact - averse at even questioning it - then you're going to be frustrated eventually in spirituality.  "Why can't I get it?"  Yes?  Isn't this a common question?

Instead of leaving that entity intact - dive into that entity - the idea of it - what is it you truly take yourself to be?  What is that idea you have of your Self?  Come to recognize fully the idea you have - then question it.  See if it's true.  Notice how the idea you have about yourself is the very definition of separation - how can you find so-called Oneness or Wholeness if you are separate, your very being is independent, finite?  Do you expect spirituality to somehow heal this separation?  What should happen - some sort of cosmic superglue to bind up all the separate entities?  

Isn't this the real fundamental problem?  The most cherished and root belief you have is that you were born, that you began, that you came into existence and will someday cease to exist?  Isn't this the idea that is the basis for all your ideas about the world?  Isn't your most basic, fundamental idea about reality that it is divided, separate - made up of independent things?

So how do you expect to resolve spirituality when you are pointed to nonduality or no-separation?  By marching along, ignoring this most basic contradiction?  Wondering why you continue to be confused and frustrated?

Stop ignoring it and face it.  Were you born?  Did you begin?  Is existence something which starts and stops?  What is it that begins and ends?  

Forms or patterns begin and end, come and go...  what is a pattern?  What is the source of this pattern?  What is the source of that pattern?  What do you know of the world that isn't a pattern?  What is the source of the world?

Can you be something other than that source?  

The entirety of this search isn't really much more complex than that.  Answer it with confidence and you're done, one way or another.

Like A Dream

In a dream, you are moving about, working towards some goal. 

If that goal is reached, if that goal is attained, what is truly attained? 

When that dream ends, the goal, the attainment and the path are wiped out - we realize they never really existed - it was a play of consciousness. 

Nothing was gained by this realization.

Nothing was lost in this realization.

For a while it was believed to be so, now it's not.

No matter how the dream appeared, it was unreal of itself.

No matter who appeared in the dream, nothing really happened.

No one was there, no one did anything.

It was simply a play of consciousness - your head never moved from the pillow.

In the same way, we might say the Absolute is dreaming, dreaming of beingness, dreaming "I AM".

Because of that capacity the idea "I AM" is there.

When this capacity goes so does the idea.

When the dream ends so does the play.

You remain untouched - you were only aware of the dream, you did not participate in the dream.

When the dream ends you remain as you are.  The Absolute.

Then the play can go on without binding, even though the binding is also only in the play.

It's Not Magic

Are we talking about what is true, or what appears?  What appears to be? 

Should we talk about why the sky is blue, or ask - is it actually blue at all?

Should we ask why the ocean is blue, or go pull a bucket of seawater and find that it's not blue at all?

Should we continue to refer the sun as moving across the sky, or realize, remember that it's actually the earth which is moving and the sun is stationary.

Should we continue to look up on the world of things and only stay with the appearance of it?  If there is a rock or a tree, we are taking that form or appearance as the absolute existence, the independent thing, instead of realizing - REMEMBERING - that a tree or rock or cloud or anything we see is a pattern, a formation, an expression of something else.

So as we break this habit of taking appearance as absolute, we begin to trace back what that "thing" is after all - from what has it appeared, from what has it patterned?  We trace it through the molecule, the element, the atom, the quark, energy - at some point we lose the ability to trace any farther.

All we can say about it - in fact we find that no matter what "thing" it is that we're trying to trace back - we always come to that same ineffable source, that same "no-thing-ness" or emptiness or Intelligence - sometimes we call it Life.

All we can really say is - whatever it IS - it is THAT which exists - the eventual pattern, the tree, the rock, the cloud, the thought - whatever it is that eventually appears or forms - is never something new, never something newly created that is apart FROM that source, apart FROM that essence, whatever it IS.

So the "existence" of the tree or rock or thought is not really an existence but a coming and going, an appearing and dissolving, a patterning OF that ESSENCE, THAT which IS - that which is the reality, that which exists alone - the tree or rock or cloud or thought is just an expression of THAT - is it not?

Therefore we come to the conclusion, really the conviction that anything we might call the "world", anything we might call "experience" is THAT essence forming or patterning or expressing - we ultimately cannot find anything which stands outside of this reality - including this body, this mind, this idea of what I Am.

Maybe unexpectedly, being dumbstruck on some quiet evening - it dawns that this essence, this LIFE or Intelligence, THAT which IS - I MUST BE THAT!  What else could I be?  What is it that is presently aware of this world, this appearance, this "patterning" which includes the body and mind?

THAT which is presently the knower of this IS THAT essence, that Life.  Therefore it isn't ME who knows the world as a separate entity but Life which knows itself through this patterning.  Life has, through this mechanism we call "Consciousness", the capability of knowing itself, yes? 

Vedanta says - Aham Brahmasmi - I am Brahman.  I am that which IS, that existence which is the source of all that appears and the knower of that appearance.  Shankara said - ultimately the Self and Brahman are identical.  THAT which you call ME, "I" - that Self you know so well, that Self which is Self-Evident - that Self is not the small self of ME, the small self of the independent existence but THAT Brahman itself, Life itself, Intelligence.

We didn't need to get anything, go anywhere - it was just realized to already be SO.  You are that whole reality, that essence, that source.  The idea of being something separate, independent, finite - falls away as false naturally - what remains is the certainty that you are the whole itself.

It's not magic.  It's not spiritual.  It's just a mistaken identity with a false idea.  The falling away of that idea is called "Self-Realization".

Not-Two

We might say you can boil this entire spiritual seeking thing down to two things - what exists and what appears.  In fact a direction for a seeker might be to inquire into what actually exists and what is it that appears?

Maybe we get the sneaking suspicion that, due to inattention, due to the fact that we had these ideas indoctrinated before we had a chance to intelligently question them - we take the world to be a jumble of separate things, a collection of independently-existing things - the idea of a "thing" or "thingness" is critically important here.  What is a "thing" anyway?

A "thing" is supposed to be something which exists, yes?  So what does that really mean?  Did that thing pop into existence?  Where was it before?  Where does it go when it ceases to exist?  How did it come into existence anyway?  We really don't want to think much deeper than this because it's maybe too complicated or we don't think it's the right direction.  The challenge is to do it - inquire into this idea - give it a chance for doubt.

We have to be able to see the reality of dependent existence - in other words things don't just exist on their own - they are dependent on something - mostly they are just patterns - collections of something else - like molecules - so a tree is organic matter - molecules - elements - atoms - what we see as "tree" is just a pattern of energy - it is a "tree" to "eyes" - in other words "eyes" are needed to know "tree" - in this case "tree" is just a particular identified and familiar shape or pattern - if the means of knowledge were not eyes but ears, we might need the tree to make some identifiable noise, yes?  So we can identify "tree".

In this case "eyes" are part of the equation "tree" - without "eyes" there is no "tree" - if the means of measurement was a microscope, it would not be "tree" but "molecules" that we would identify - yes?  So the means of knowledge by which you are aware of that "thing" is part of the knowledge of that "thing", yes?

So what about the knowledge of your Self?  How do you come about knowing your Self?  What means of knowledge is required?  Do you know yourself via the eyes?  Do you see yourself?  Do you hear yourself?  Do you feel yourself?

In fact that which you know as "I" is the subject of all these objective situations - you cannot feel or see or touch the "I" - "I" is not available to you for objective measurement.  It is that which enjoys the measurement yet itself is never subject to measurement.

So we can trace back any "thing" that we can know objectively - what is it made of? What is it's cause?  What is it's source?  Then again when we find a source we must again ask what is the source of that?  What is the cause of that?  Finally we may reach the end of our capability of identifying that ultimate source - we might come to the conclusion that the source of one is the source of all.

See if you can trace back your source in this way.  Are you the result of some pattern?  Are you the effect of some cause?  Did you begin existing at one point where you did not exist before?  Are you just another "thing-among-things"?

These are questions we must ask and really are the foundation of self-knowledge.  If we take what appears equally to that which exists, we are overlooking the answer everytime.  We might realize that what appears must come and go due to some essence or source which IS, which exists, and the form which comes and goes is never something new, never something other-than that source.

This is the revelation of Vedanta - Tat Tvam Asi - You are THAT - THAT is what-IS - what exists - there is only ONE.

Or better said - there is not-two.

The Fish

The fish is seeking water - it just has an intellectual understanding of water but doesn't feel it yet.  It is told that all experience is water but it cannot understand, because it is looking for something different, for something to change.  It isn't about some new experience - it is pointing out that what IS, is already that. 

In the same way, in spirituality we are seeking something new, something different.  It is this requirement or condition we assert upon reality which makes us overlook the obvious simplicity of this message. 

The problem, if we can call it a problem, is ignorance of what we are.  The solution is knowledge - self-knowledge.  There are many kinds of knowledge.  If I want to know about cooking, I might watch a cooking show or buy a cookbook.  If I want to learn how to program a computer I might take a class.  However if my desire is to know myself what training can I take?  What book can I read?  What show can I watch to discover my Self?

Therefore the means of Self-knowledge is spirituality - there are many forms of it - in this case here we speak of Vedanta.  Vedanta is a means of knowing your Self - finding out what you are.  And to find out what you are we must first know what we THINK we are.  Therefore we dive into our current ideas - we find we have never really examined these ideas in any depth.

We take ourselves to be some organism, some body which was created from the cells of the mother and the father.  From the combination of these cells this body, this organism took shape, grew, gained capacity through it's various organs to function, breathe, heartbeat, heal, think, etc.  It is a functioning organism and eventually it has mental capacity - it learns and can gather beliefs.  Ultimately there is the capacity we call Consciousness.

Our idea is that we did not exist prior to this creation, prior to this conception.  We simply did not exist.  Then at some point we came into existence.  One minute we did not exist and then the next we did - this is very deeply ingrained.  However the main point is that we popped into existence where we did not exist before.  Then we exist for a while, that organism grows and goes from a fetus to old age, then when these capacities stop, when the breathing and heartbeating stop, we stop.  We STOP.  We cease to exist where we once existed.  One second we were there and then we are gone.  We're GONE.  

So think about that idea - think about this concept you have of what you are.  Consider it deeply - really realize what it is that you take yourself to be.  And then compare it to your goal of spirituality - which is to find oneness or whatever you want to call it.  You take yourself to be something which is temporary and independent, yet you yearn for oneness.  Your very existence as you take it to be contradicts what you hope spirituality is all about.

Consider deeply this idea of your birth and your eventual death.  Are you something which comes and goes?  Can existence really come and go?  What is it that comes and goes?  Is it existence or is it just forms?  Isn't the body-mind just a form, a pattern, an organism, a particular arrangement of atoms or particles?  Just because they are shaped as a body for a while doesn't mean that YOU are born and then die.  Just because energy patterns in a particular way for a while doesn't mean that YOU are temporary.  

Intelligence is the basis for everything you know.  It is all around you.  In fact, like the fish, you are surrounded by it only you focus on the appearance of it instead of the reality of it.  In focusing on the appearance you take the fleeting nature of appearance as the fleeting nature of existence or Intelligence.  Wave isn't something new, something born, something which didn't exist before and then comes into existence, later to die.  Wave is an appearance OF ocean - the only thing which comes and goes about it is the appearance of wave, the activity of ocean, the expression of ocean.  

In the same way, this body-mind is an expression of that Intelligence, of that Existence - you aren't a new and temporary existence but that Intelligence itself - coming to know itself because OF this appearance, because OF this capacity we call consciousness or knowing or awareness.  You have mistaken yourself for the appearance - you have identified with a fleeting form and overlooked your Presence as THAT which IS.

Tat Tvam Asi - You Are THAT.  This is the meaning we should discover.