Friday, February 5, 2010

Spiritual progress is a load of rubbish

Hi Tom,

Thanks for highlighting this - some clarity is called for here, for sure. So here goes...

If the idea of separation is running then the concept will present that there is 'one' who is not enlightened, one who is enlightened and one who is liberated. From that perspective only, there can be an appearance of a spiritual hierarchal system. Really this, like all that can be said, is all a load of rubbish because there isn't 'one' in the first place! Enlightenment is simply the indisputable seeing that there is no 'one'; that what you thought you were was nothing more than concepts passing in consciousness. So that destroys all possibilities of one being a guru or satguru - it's just gobbledygook. Yet, everything has its place and the inward movement of the mind can continue (post enlightenment) and consciousness(presenting as separate mind) can label this as progress. That happens too.
But this is progress for whom? That's where it falls down again! There can only be a hierarchy when separation is running.
Yet, levels of consciousness present in this movie and they do not apply to any individual. There are no individuals. Consciousness throws up all concepts and somehow if the idea of separation is running then they are taken as real, right and wrong, etc. So as long as that movie is entertained consciousness will continue to imagine/present the idea of a seeker with something to achieve. This is just the play of an I and there never was any one ever really caught up in this anyway....truly there isn't any 'one' and can not be 'one'. So that leaves all of this material as just thoughts (don't make them anybody's) with no substance in any objective reality. Still consciousness presents all these concepts, and it will continue to be like this, it seems. Yes for sure - remaining as pure silence beats all of this any day in any dimension!!
A Dublin date for a satsang sitting has just been set up for March 6th and 7th.....let's see what happens!

Hey Dan - really there is nothing to understand. Being what you really are is happening; that can not be stopped or started. What you are is beyond all of this. Nothing to work out any more perhaps; let the fragrance of what you are arise and dissolve any tendency to imagine you are other than the essence of all that IS.
jac

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Self Realisation is not Liberation

Self realisation, awakening and enlightenment are terms used to label the direct experience of Reality. This is not a regular experience (spiritual or otherwise) that one can have as the ‘I’ can not experience it. Yet it is a happening within the phenomenal world. The space between two ‘I’ thoughts offers this direct experience many times a day but while attention is focused on thoughts and they are taken to be real, well…then the ‘I’ movie is still more potent than the pull towards Truth.

Seeing through the matrix; realising that your perception of reality entirely hinges upon the belief that you exist as a separate individual, is for some a eureka moment but for others it goes un-noticed. In the latter case, some time (usually years) pass until it is recognised that thoughts are no longer believed. For some, a deep understanding follows; the intricacies of how creation can be taken as real is revealed. It is then that sentences from advaita such as ‘nothing ever happened’ make most sense. There is clear knowing of what is illusion and a direct knowing of what is beyond mind.

Advaita texts state that the stabilisation of self realisation leads to the ‘state’ of liberation. While the seeing through of the ‘I’ thought is the first step towards liberation; it does not automatically follow that self realisation leads to liberation in every case. From what jac has seen while travelling in the west in 2009 it seems in western cultures self realisation is taken to be the end of the line; the show is over. To a certain point this is so, yet self realisation is not liberation…there is more. What can change will continue to change against the unmoving background. To this end, the sense of the ‘I’ can again arise and desires may influence action or in some cases the pull towards total annihilation of the wandering mind continues until liberation.

Useful terms to denote the difference can be found in Indian culture; the guru is self realised and the satguru is liberated.

Manifesting as the satguru, the Absolute Seer has nothing to see. No ideas come to mind at all. Action taken is never guided by a concept. There is no sense of needing anything - ever. Liberation is the changeless state with no will, no ideas, no imagination and no doubt.

All traces of ‘I am’ can disappear, leaving no trace of individuality. What remains is consciousness experiencing consciousness. The ‘I am’ can come and go spontaneously as long as the body functions, but it is given no importance. This level of functioning of ‘I am’ is no more than an aid to existence.

The self realised can say ‘I am That’ and the liberated have realised the unreality of ‘I am’.