movement of life

this is the transcript from a video I made today…

this reality has an element of knowing to it.

we may not know what life is,
and far be it for any person to say they do –
but, nevertheless, there is this knowing element of experience:
experience is known.

what is it that knows life?

sometimes it’s called consciousness.
but consciousness just means ‘whatever’s conscious’; which means ‘whatever knows’.
so, consciousness isn’t really a word that tells us a lot,
other than the fact that there is the presence of something that’s conscious.

but we could say that Life is, reality is;
that’s true, because there is Being,
there is Life, there is Reality,
if only in the fact that we are aware of it…

~

there’s this movement:
the movement of Life held within the infinite silence of its own Being,
you could say that poetically.

really, it’s a mystery.
there’s lots we don’t know.
I mean, what do we really know?

consciousness consciousness consciousness
that’s very effective at deconstructing beliefs that obstruct Peace,
but what do we really know?

we know that we are aware, for sure.
we know that awareness is real.
experientially there is one reality (and logically too),
but apart from that, look there’s just…

this moment, this expanse of the texture of life,
this is all just kind of painting a picture because we don’t know,
I mean, look –
~

so what’s the balance between knowing and not-knowing?

we can’t deny that we know consciousness, to do so would be madness.
but we can know that we don’t know anything else, in a matter of speaking.

all we can know is our consciousness, and even that…isn’t for the mind,
it’s: consciousness knows consciousness,
the rest is –
dynamic, it’s incredible, it’s a wonderful mystery that there is anything.

look, there’s something!

~

but the Peace
the Peace that we seek
is in the heart of what we really are.

you can ‘unveil’ that through questioning your beliefs earnestly and uncompromisingly.

and then the rest,
there is no rest –
there’s just…
life continues to…
to do what life does.

but there is an end to suffering.

you could say that the most natural experience is that of Love.
it’s always natural because it’s about taking off the armour instead of putting on something.

resisting less, avoiding less,
Being.

mind and consciousness

mind as objective experience can be subdivided into various elements, like various minds, or the function of ‘thinking’ specifically – but for most intents and purposes, ‘mind’ is an umbrella term for a collection of perceived objects.

for instance, your thinking mind is the collection of objects known as ‘my thoughts’.
or, your human mind is the collection of objects known as ‘my perceptions’.
or, a global-human mind is the collection of objects that appear as ‘all humanity’s perceptions’.

the limitations of all these definitions is that they are objects perceived by consciousness. in other words, no matter how you slice your definition of mind-as-objects, the primary limitation of it will be that it is perceived.

i.e. You, consciousness, are not your mind.

mind is perceived; consciousness is that which perceives it
mind is made of consciousness; consciousness is not made of mind
mind is a collection of objects; consciousness is the reality of them

mind-at-large is the motion of consciousness – and consciousness is its perceiver.

~

nothing that has ever arisen in mind (that could mean thoughts, sensations, mentations, perceptions – anything objective) has ever touched or stained or perturbed or affected consciousness itself in any way whatsoever.

but – and here’s the rub – although the word consciousness points to its referent, ‘I’ – the thought of consciousness, as well as the ‘I’ thought – are just that, thoughts. they are perceived. the mind is an objective perception, and that includes all its thoughts about consciousness. nevertheless, the consciousness-word is a good one, because it points directly home. it’s a true word, if any word could be representative of what we are, because it is one that expresses the fact that we are conscious – awake, present, and ‘here’, in the sense that consciousness is the ‘central core’ of anything that arises, it is the true reality of here-and-now.

we are consciousness, we are not the consciousness-thought.
the consciousness-thought/word is a helpful pointer and tool, but we perceive it.

freedom is to see ‘I am not my mind’ – through and through, beyond all its vicissitudes. this is not a demeaning negation of mind or of thinking, but on the contrary, a celebration of thought and objective experience’s true place as a reflection of our natural joy – a place which mentations assume when seen as secondary to the reality that perceives them.

it is not that there is nothing

It is not that there is nothing.

There is something – here and now, present. Something undeniably is, or, in other words, there is reality to this.

This reality, present, here and now, cannot be known other than through direct experience – for what do we ever have or know but a direct experience of our own reality?

It is the same nameless Being we all find when we look: there’s no other show in town.

Awareness is the fact of experience. We cannot deny, at any moment in space or time, the fact that we are aware. Everything else is subject to relativity; never Awareness itself.

Our infinite and constant companion, closer than close, it is our real Self.

It is not that there is nothing, for there is reality to this.

an embraced multitude of Self-perceived form

Listen to the world beyond name and form, and you will hear its quiet song –
as it sings to us, before it ever speaks of limits, of that invisible, infinite unknown…
Presence, Animator, unseen and unheard, is what we are, what Life is, the only Being that could be;
and its animation, life’s temporal creation, the infinite motion of That Which Is Free.

that which presents itself here in this world, the shifting mirage of seeming-to-be, is but Being’s embraced multitude of its own Self-perceived forms. it is an expansion out from an infinitesimal point, unthinkable by mind. no projection or mentation could accurately represent the source of itself; however, all projections and mentations are only, ultimately, their source-reality in myriad motion. it is the dance of the invisible, known to itself by itself: for this Knowing is what is truly primordial to all experience. it is pure Being – it is what is.

reality belongs to no realizer, there is no one to understand. the seeming personal development of spiritual knowledge (even if such a thing were possible) would be completely illusory – everything, always, is impersonal. there is no Buddha to be or become or sit like or to make friends with. there is only reality, and its events belong only to itself. this may seem challenging for the mind which is always looking for security in identity, but there is great joy in seeing the total impersonality of all arisings. there is no separation nor division, nor could there ever be from You, Your Self, Absolute Consciousness.

present moment perception seems divisible into world (perception) and mind (viewer location) – but all we know of mind, world, perceptions is objective. a collection of mentations seen from a personal POV, aka a mind, is completely perceived – therefore it cannot be the subject, only the medium through which the true subject perceives. world-and-mind (and body) are all on the same side of the equation: perceived mind-stuff. however, that which perceives all mind-stuff is consciousness, and where are its limitations? it is infinite, embracing and perceiving all its objects. an object cannot be known other than in Impersonal Knowing, other than as Impersonal Knowing, other than with Impersonal Knowing. consciousness is real, and verifiably so – it is experientially a-priori to know that we are conscious (‘prior to’ any mental projection or position or state). reality is conscious (as no thought, sensation, or sense percept has the ability to perceive). Awareness is real; reality is aware; there is only awareness. the seeming subdivision of awareness into constituent parts is mind-made (and body implied). first, somehow, we have a glimpse that our nature is infinite presence-awareness, then our mind is realigned along this new pathway, then our body is colonized in its feeling, then sense perception is seen as our Self too, then our actions and relationships are realigned in harmony. (it doesn’t happen in any one order, but for the sake of clarity it could be elucidated in this way). but, that is all from the perspective of mind! eventually all formulation, cogitation, mentation, projection, thought, word, concept-image must be offered to infinite silence – and nothing remains but peace and joy and any some-such impersonal arisings seen in celebration.

peace and happiness are the non-phenomenal experience of Being which streams through and into the phenomenal realm, rekindling the fire of enthusiasm. the experience of Peace and the experience of Consciousness are indistinguishable, as well as inexhaustible, for they are both words for the nature of what is. we share the same Peace nature, whether it is seemingly veiled by mind-stuff and body-stuff – or not. 

the path to the unveiling of natural Peace is to inquire into the nature of experience until the beliefs that generate psychological suffering are seen-through. a clue, always, is in what we mean by ‘consciousness’ and how, for instance, we think of ‘reality’ different than our ‘self’. 

suffering leads to investigation, leads to inquiry, leads to abidance-meditation, leads to expression. 

all the while, nothing truly changes to that which is.

Unnameable Perfection

There can be a flow, a wave – a glimpse of the Heart in the silence of its Being – when the distinctive boundaries held between seeming-self and seeming-other are collapsed in a resolution of feeling…

Reality-as-itself, this knowing-being that knows and is Life, could be called Unnameable Perfection. Unnameable – because it cannot be given an appropriate title, when its depths are free, beyond language, concept, form and thought. Perfection – because it is never amiss: its created dance, and its supreme, simultaneous independence, is the unfoldment of cosmic beauty, without a flaw to be found.

We could call Love that which perceives experiences.
It is what is irreducibly real.
It is the the fabric of Being, of the One.

The absolution we long for is never in, as, or for the dreamed-character;
Absolution lies in the simple fact that only Awareness is Aware.

Knowledge (in terms of objects) is always formed in/thru the mind, the utilized channel of limited perceptions – but Knowing, if we extend its definition to include the non-phenomenal realm – is beyond, before, and prior to the access of mentation. ‘Knowing’ in this sense is the channel of Absolute Freedom.

the mind, the channel of limitation, can never know the consciousness that perceives it.
it is Consciousness that Knows both the mind, and Itself, through its Being-Nature.

Being Reality, Awareness Is.

nothing that disappears is lost

nothing that arises lasts;
but nothing that disappears is lost –
for there is only one substance in reality,
that of Awareness itself.

if there were more than one substance,
there would be more than one reality,
because the substance of the thing is the reality of the thing,
when you boil it down to its essence.

that there is only one reality cannot be proven through words
(though if there were more, would they not arise in a greater One?)
however, it is a suggestion to explore, to investigate, to muse over,
and to follow this deep intuition and enthusiasm,
that leads to openness, and to the possibility that –

everything and nothing,
formlessness and form,
Being and Existence,
are never opposed,
and always not-two.

our reality is unstained by separation:
there is no possibility of separate selves.
separation is simply a suggestion provided by a weary mind
collapsed under the weight of a simple conditioned belief.

in terms of That Which Has No Opposite,
we can but offer a word to the experience,
and a word is a pale object indeed
compared to what it stands for.

on equality and harmony

as expressions of consciousness, all of our perceptions are completely intimate with consciousness’ perceiving of them – the experience of each seemingly distinguishable mind-form is completely steeped in consciousness. there is never any lack or absence of consciousness, ever, in any moment – and for that reason non-dual understanding is what Atmananda called ‘perfect communism’. there’s no hierarchy, no achievement, no appropriation possible except through a mental fantasy, which must at some point resolve itself back into the understanding that reality knows no levels.

this understanding Presence is the destiny of all the projections of consciousness.

since there is no lack of consciousness possible, each individual expression – for instance, each human being – is equal in consciousness. for, in fact it is only God’s mind which created, out of its freedom, each of us, and which guides our paths in life at each moment. it is simply through an act of ignorant thinking that we can come to see others as ultimately ‘others’ at all, to say nothing of putting seeming-others into an artificial hierarchy, of having or possessing entitlements, personal attributes of personal value, or qualities that belong to anything but the source. the only entity which can have is God. all credit is due to the divine. there may be relative inequality of relative possession – but since there is no absolute inequality – there is never any inequality of actual value.

if only our world culture took note of our shared being – what a different course life on Earth might take…

free of limits

Pure infinite Being is all there is to experience.
That which seems to appear is in fact Reality-at-Essence
for its being, and its existence,
is inseparate from the one Consciousness that Is.

The cosmos is known solely by that which can know,
by the eternal Presence that we are.
It has been created by our emission,
sustained by our contemplation,

and, at any moment, can resolve itself back into its source,

Emptiness-Fullness-without-object.

There is no self which can be experienced in the way we experience phenomena;
there is no phenomenal self, there is no objective self.
While the body-mind-world are passing, knowable experiences,
no mind-object could be anything but a temporal phasing of Aware Presence.

Consciousness is Free from all objective limitations.

maya’s kaleidoscope

the dream of our self-made illusion
spreads out high and wide
over the mystic cover of night-thought,
to the farthest corners of the sublimated mind.

and yet upon touching the unmistakeable,
the sheath of maya is seen

as the mighty charade of a cosmic love-dance…

there is nothing but Reality with which Reality could pretend to veil itself;
– and so –
there is nothing but Reality with which Reality could attempt to find itself.

seek not your Self with your Self;
simply know your Self as all that is True.

and in the clear seeing
that you are what you seek,
the cataclysm of the spiritual search
begins to resolve itself
back to peaceful ash,
now ready to flit alongside the motion of the wind,
it’s only flightpath, the joy of the soul.

for even the deepest contraction has not the power to shift one iota in the ever-present sands of your depth. consciousness is your base, your core, your reality, your home.

underneath all concepts lies an undisturbed truth:
we share the very same Being.

Image Source

the happiness of our nature

the belief that happiness lives in the future – in some hard-to-imagine result of work and effort or in the result of discovering the perfect relationship or state of mind, for example – is a deep and predominant current of thinking in our culture. it is amplified, perhaps, by the belief in some happy past, whenever things were aligned and perfect and innocent. it makes no difference whether we look for happiness in the past or future – that’s not where it exists.

the belief that happiness is not available here, now, in all conditions and situations – that happiness is anything other than the experience of Being divested of belief – keeps us stuck on an endless hamster wheel. we remain searching, fruitlessly, for the thing which we can never truly leave, no matter how hard we try.

the substance, or reality, of life is happiness itself. that is the fundamental discovery of all spiritual traditions and it awaits us at any moment we truly open ourselves to a new possibility: that these little body/minds that we perceive are not us – they appear in us, they are made of us, and they are known by us, the one infinite consciousness that perceives them in every moment…that we are in fact the singular, indivisible, indestructible Reality of life, Consciousness, and our nature is the Peace and Happiness that every seemingly limited being seeks in their activities (and eventually finds, one way or the other).

what is the route to this discovery? to investigate, without cease, and without ulterior motive (other than a love of the truth), the nature of our experience, and the nature of the consciousness that perceives. a genuine love of truth is like a guarantee – and it cannot be manufactured. it’s mysterious in that way.

at some point we realize that we perceive our body, we perceive our mind, we perceive the senses – and so ‘we’ cannot be found there. we see that we are whatever it is that is perceiving, and so we can never lose ourself. and if we are open to it, we realize at some point that whatever is perceiving has no objective limitation – it is free from all perceived experience, independent from the momentary movements of all life – and its very nature is the Peace and Happiness and Love we have always sought.

after this fundamental discovery takes place, the realignment of our life begins, from a new vantage point: instead of frantically seeking a distant happiness in all realms, we begin to express the happiness we feel as our known nature, as our reality, and as our only real love.