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Sacred Traps….and pitfalls.
There is a common occurrence in teaching and that is the statement that there is no you and nothing that you can do to realize yourself.
Such teachers also say that there occurred for them a spontaneous awakening. This is unbearable for the believed in seeker, because it feeds the imagination that there is some mysterious ‘something to get’ in some future time. The angst of it all is suppressed usually. So, it all appears as a strong sense of frustration for the aspirants. That kind of teaching is not helpful and yet strangely enough it is still very popular. It actually supports the belief in the ‘me’. The teachers are well adapted and have an answer for all the various objections brought up – and they subtly place the responsibility back on the seeker, thus accentuating the frustration for the seeker and making themselves look smarter that everyone. Then they talk about unconditional love. They often express very negative things about any other teacher that may be mentioned in the meetings. Some seekers get very irate and storm out of the meetings and the ‘teacher’ will then wait a moment, then turn that event into ‘a plus’, thus keeping his flock in order and raising himself above them all, once more.
There is one popular teacher about today who pushes this ‘spontaneous awakening’ concept but he fails to mention that he actually spent many years after that apparent ‘spontaneous awakening’ quite desperately seeking something more in the company of Rajneesh (Osho).
It is true that there is no separate you that can do anything. However, the seeing-knowing is happening. This seeing-knowing is not arising out of the time/space pattern called the body/mind. The body and mind appear in awareness and are nothing but awareness. There is no separation in the actuality of this immediate natural state of pure cognition. So, if there is belief in ‘me’, then use that belief in me, to explore the idea of a separate individual. Through this looking into, the pattern of belief takes on a transparent nature. It is ‘seen through’. That is a common expression, ‘seeing through’ the belief. What sees through belief? The ‘me’ cannot see, because an idea cannot see. It is the seeing itself that sees. It does not have a form and it cannot be located as a thing. If one is left with concepts about ‘there is nothing you can do’ there will be frustration. How so many pay hefty fees over and over, just to experience endless frustration is amazing.
Seminars, intensives and endless meetings take on a sense of being in a prison for the mind. The most sacred practices turn into a trap merely because there is a belief that there is someone who is going to gain something. There is nothing to get. The core of the whole issue is an erroneous belief – it is called ‘me’ or self-centred activity. There is no escape for that believed in entity. There is something to do. Investigate whatever it is that seemingly obscures this clear and present awareness. Take the belief in me and explore it. Go into it, expand it. See what it is. In that seeing, everything reveals itself as appearance. What is seeing remains beyond conceptualisation. There never was a seeker or an ego. Knowing that is freedom from all concepts about ‘self’. What remains is inexplicable.
I would like to say…
Thanks for this article, Gilbert. This is indeed a thorny subject which leaves many people bewildered and frustrated. The other extreme to the “there is nothing you can do” argument is that you need to find a guru or teacher, somebody fully “realized”, to become “fully realized” yourself. What is your opinion about this?
Reply: There are absolutely no conditions to this natural state of self-realizing awareness. It is the falling away of erroneous belief or the seeing through of belief that ‘appears’ to be the turning point. From the point of view from mind, which is time, it is like approaching a window or doorway to a new world, free from all beliefs. Once one has seen through all beliefs, the ‘past conditioning’ disappears and one finds the timeless stateless state of pure cognition (if we must put a name on it, that is accurate enough). In that seeing through the ‘door’ or ‘window’ is known to have never existed.
In the appearance if you meet someone who has actually seen through the ‘me’ (or self-centered activity) then they can certainly point you in the ‘right direction’. I am not exaggerating when I say that 99.999% of teachers are useless, because they are speaking from a relative point of view and they most usually say or imply, by inference, that there is something to be acquired via their methods. They also claim to be in a state higher than their devotees. Their behavior is often absurdly superior.
What I would say is that the resonance one senses or feels when hearing direct pointing is not explained away by any concepts. The only value the pointers have is in the moment of recognition. The resonance one feels is LIFE itself – as if being called forth from underneath a pile of old beliefs and conditioned mind.
In that resonance or that recognition, one simply knows that ‘this is true’, without words – it resonates strongly. By sticking with that resonance, it takes you where you need to go. The genuine messenger claims nothing as a personality and does not need charisma or any form of seduction to deliver the message. And the message may take on hundreds of appearances – always fresh and new, even if the words are the same as you have heard before.
The ‘me’ is resistance, so there is usually a lot of struggle that goes on and a lot of self assessment. With a genuine interest, no conclusion can truly satisfy the lasting desire for what is true. All conclusions fall apart. Whatever conceptualized answer appears, it will sooner or later fall apart and this activity goes on for a little while until the mind is exhausted and the resonance shines, naked and without any conceptual support. Belief is overthrown naturally. All these words will sound like the ravings of a lunatic if there has not been a taste of genuine, wordless resonance in being.