Seeing-Knowing

You are not a name or a ‘person’. Whoever you believe yourself to be is just a story. It may be a good one for sure, it maybe the best – but it is a story, none the less.

Without words, where is time and story?

Every story begins with “Once upon a time………” Memory only lives in the immediacy.

Turn away from memory and what is left?

What past is there without words or thought?

Some may dismiss this as sheer nonsense but if you really drop all thoughts and cease from referring to memory – all that is left is naked wakefulness.

How difficult is that? Yet many Masters tell us that it will take many life times to get beyond the mind and the conditioning.

The so-called great enlightenment is right here. The resistance is called ‘me’. Shine a light on that and SEE that it has no substance or independent existence and the whole fabrication falls apart…..leaving you as you are – present and aware – with nowhere to go and nothing to get.

Blessed relief.

………….

The same energy appears as a seeker and as a so-called realized one. The relative forms appear to be different but the immediate energy vibrating into those apparently different patterns is the SAME immediate energy. ONE, without a second.

The pattern of energy cannot see or realize anything just as the idea of self cannot see or do anything without that life force pulsing through it.

A corpse has all the instruments, eyes, ears, brain, arms, legs etc.  The corpse cannot see, hear, think, touch or walk.

What is missing? The animating life essence. So, what is seeing, hearing, thinking, touching and walking?

The Life Essence and there is ONLY ONE.

You are THAT.

How could you be anything other then THAT?

Everything is appearance only. The Essence of everything is beyond the capacity of the intellect. In its pure nature it is the simplicity of the naked knowing, an activity of the same energy that ‘creates’ the entire appearance in this immediacy called LIFE. You cannot be separate from THAT. You are THAT and could not ever be possibly apart from THAT. Whatever the mind reveals as thought, concept or image is nothing other than THAT, appearing as ‘something different’. It cannot be different, though it appears AS all the diversity in the APPEARANCE of things. One Signature is written as the traces of ‘time’ and the entire appearance REGISTERS upon this naked awareness and is nothing other than THAT. Everything appears in the SEEING and IS the SEEING. There is NO separation.

All words fall short naturally because they are nothing but an expression of THAT, which remains un-diversified, un-mediated and for ever present.

Doubt is nothing but a thought.

An insight into one’s own true nature can happen at any time and in any circumstances, whether they be deemed positive or negative by the mind. Energy is neither positive nor negative. When the mind collapses into silence, SEEING-KNOWING remains as THAT singular Essence, which is expressed through the mind as the words ‘I am’. You cannot negate that BEINGNESS, and THAT is all there ever IS. Even the appearance of things is THAT.

There is no pattern of energy that is aware of anything, without that life essence that animates it. Belief cannot stand up to an investigation, so long as it is complete and ruthless. Belief is not the actual. The actuality is this immediate life just as it is. Wanting to alter or change it is ‘of the mind’ and the mind appears to have an agenda and at the core of that agenda is a false identity commonly called ‘me’.

There is only one LIFE. Any impression of this immediate LIFE can cut through the habits of mind and free it from the fictional bondage of self. Believing that only certain ‘methods’ can work or that some ‘personal god image’ will help you is delusional. The symbol of Adam and Eve being tossed out of Paradise is a telling symbolism. And much later Jesus said “the kingdom of God is in your midst – but you see it not.” So the kingdom is here now. What prevents you from recognizing it is belief in thoughts that you take to be your own. Investigate and see if you can actually find a THINKER. This is a key to the whole illusion of separateness. In the appearance ‘few’ will make this investigation.

In the stories from ancient times, out of hundreds of so called individuals, ONLY ONE, Moses, went up the mountain to have communion with the Clarity of Being (God).  A burning bush spoke to Moses – another highly symbolic image.  Find the spark of this life force in yourself and be attentive to it.  It will reveal everything as it IS.

Trying to be what you are not makes you unhappy.  Being what you are is effortless and in its simplest expression is happiness.  Telling someone not to worry rarely brings any relief. AS intelligence itself, one must go to the ’cause’ of the worrying and expose the central figure, SEE it for what it is, which is a fixation, a reference point that is INVALID.   Such directives are instantly confronting to those who cling to a false identity, so they resist the directive.  Those who follow it find that they were NEVER an entity at any time.

Discovering, or more accurately re-discovering one’s true nature is ‘something’ beyond all imagination and yet so simple and uncomplicated. Having overlooked it for decades through the grasping notions of seeking it, in all the wrong places, a tremendous relief spreads throughout being in one instant of recognition.  What the grasping mind ‘does’ with such an insight determines whether the insight disappears into the past as a memory or whether it stays as this natural SEEING PRESENCE of I AM.

All of our problems revolve around two assumptions.

They are IDENTITY…..

and BOUNDARY.

If you investigate either of these concepts it may reveal something that has eluded you for a long time.

That is if we entertain the idea that ‘time’ has some real qualities – but that is another question.

Since we are talking about Non Duality – ONE without a second, so any identity must be that ONE.

Since there is only ONE, there is no ‘other’ to compare it with, except in the appearance of ‘things’ (perception).

Mind projections are not excluded but they need to be disregarded in this investigation.

Since there is only ONE, then whatever is seeing must be that ONE.

Any idea about this seeing must be a concept – and all concepts appear and disappear. The ONE which is SEEING remains constant.

Now, if we investigate the concept of BOUNDARY what can be found apart from concepts and mind projections?

Example: The boundary between the Ocean and the Land cannot be found as a distinct ‘thing’. The Water penetrates the land and the land penetrates the Ocean. All boundaries are relative assumptions.

So, when looking for the boundary between ‘I’ and ‘not I’ we may come to SEE that the concept of separation is merely a common belief, one that has no distinct delineation, except as a perception. All impressions and perceptions are of the mind. The idea of ‘me’ or ‘I’ is harmless on its own.

It is what we add to these ideas that seem to cause so much trouble. All that can be added to these ideas, is more ideas, experiences and apparent conditions of being this or that.

BEING is not this or that. There is only ONE BEING, which contains all there IS.

Investigate these ‘things’ and SEE for yourself. There is no point in taking anyones word for being reality.

See for yourself – there is no other way.

The cold wind blows through my window………hands are chilled.

Fingers are warm as I type these words.

A fire is burning inside this form.  The light of this fire is an aspect of this natural seeing.

At times the flames seem to engulf the whole manifestation.

All beliefs have been scattered to the nether regions.

All there is is this knowing presence.

It is not ‘I’ as a form or entity.

The vastness of this expansive appearance is contained within this presence.

There is no separation.

Dualistic mind:

Two mice chase each other, each one believing that the ‘other’ is an impostor. – The mind is dualistic. – Clinging to any dualistic notion will automatically generate endless thoughts.

Stop thought and SEE that all thoughts are like leaves on a tree. – it seems that Equanimity hides behind the appearance of all things. – Yet there is no in front or behind, up or down, right or wrong in non conceptual awareness.

Recognizing this activity clearly and instantly lifts the focus out of thoughts and a burden is released.  Conditioning is transcended and the mind is free from the habitual bondage.   As a theory this is useless information.  For those who taste it, it may ring true.
For the dualistically bound ‘entity’, such information is just not acceptable. – Argument ensues and endless debate. Be quiet and see what IS.

According to a recent comment on the Urban Guru Cafe, “Ramana Maharshi has said that the mind (thoughts of self) never returns, perhaps he meant return with power…” Not only does it imply a ‘special state’ for the author, Ramana, but it keeps the mind (me) believing that it has not arrived at that state yet. On top of that ‘we’ have many teachers who have a photo of Ramana Maharshi next to them in their meetings and they ‘pretend’ to be in the same ‘state’ – and it is very good business for them. No one ever seems to get free of the worship syndrome and the teachers display all the signs of the ‘In Crowd’ and the ‘pink haze’, as someone once described it, which surrounds the whole ‘scene’ is highly addictive. Those who are genuinely speaking directly do not cultivate these atmospheres of delusion. When you can SEE clearly these ‘scenes’ are more or less the opposite of what they pretend to be. No one seems to want to look at this and that is obviously due to erroneous beliefs. They are all trying to drink water from a mirage.

Of course these kind of simple statements by Ramana and other clear speakers are the apparent cause of so much misunderstanding, only because they are conceived of with a self-center right smack in the middle, which implies “I don’t experience that”. – So, let me put it in very simple terms that anyone can understand. – Do you remember the first time you saw through a mirage of water? – Did a mirage of water ever truly convince you that there was water in it, after you had seen through the mirage? – It may have caught you out for a few seconds a few times maybe.

Today, you do not believe in the mirage of water. – The mirage still appears to be water but you KNOW it isn’t, more or less instantly. – So, it is the same with this ‘thoughts of self’, they may still appear to come and go but you KNOW that there is no ‘self’ that has any substance or independence.

BELIEF is the apparent cause of all these ‘problems’. – Belief in a self-center that is not actually here or there. – All the ‘problems’ that ‘we’ appear to have are due to two sets of two apparently different factors.

Identity and Boundary. – And Perception and Seeing. Seeing, immediacy, belongs to naked Being and Perception belongs to mind, process. – Investigate any of these aspects of being or mind and realize your true nature.

No one can do it for you. – In the instant of a genuine intention to discover what is, a response comes from intelligence and intelligence ‘acts’ – it cuts through the erroneous beliefs and all resistance is put aside. – In one instant the whole matrix of belief is rendered passive. – Why would you ever believe in the ‘me’ again, if it has been seen through? It still appears to be real and the belief that it is real appears in the apparent ‘others’ who still believe a ‘me’ in themselves.

Such is the drama of life. The mind says “Yes BUT……..”

It is the best show in town.

Those who imply that they are enlightened individuals and that a ’shift’ happened to them are doing you a dis-service. – Remembering some word or whatever may ‘appear’ to help.  – Belief in luck or in some god or in some fortuitous blessings bestowed by some guru or socialite will not truly ‘do anything’.  – It is the concept that I am separate that causes all the trouble.

Investing energy into that ‘idea’ will just keep pumping up the self-image and then draining you of energy over and over. – Neurotic behavior is common because ‘we’ oscillate between hope and despair.

There is NO answer in the mind. Recognizing our true nature is not via the conditioned memory.
A concept cannot see. – Seeing is happening.  – Drop the idea that there is an ‘I’ that is seeing, pause all thought and see that you are already complete just as you are.

BEING IS.
The mind is in a ‘state’ of ‘becoming’ and so, simply notice that it never arrives. – It keeps wanting ‘more’.  – There is no more.

Mind will go on dividing THAT-NESS into ever-more and more postulations of ‘time’ and ‘not having’.  – BEING is complete just as it is.
The simplicity of direct pointing is of no interest to the ‘me’. – This is why very few ‘appear’ to be genuinely interested in the direct pointing. – It is a geometric display like a flower. – Many petals appear.  – One central stamen.

Pollination (hearing the message) brings a natural transformation and the fruit appears. – At the core of the entire display (of the universe) is the heart essence which remains forever beyond the appearance.
The complete display is intact as every possibility. – The appearance is merely the appearance of multiplicity.

The heart essence is ONE.
You are THAT.

Clarity is the prerequisite, upon which everything appears. Clarity does not belong to anyone or anything. A fog and the clearest crystal drop of water appear on or in the same clarity. Some point unrelentingly to that clarity.

Recognition spontaneously happens. It is nothing other than seeing. Seeing is happening – why is clarity seemingly not here?

It cannot not be here or anywhere else either. It is belief in concepts that seemingly cloud the mind. Yet they all appear in the same clarity.

Trying to grasp it always fails. There is no success or failure in this. Success and failure appear in the same clarity.

Many teachers keep the ‘seeker’ on the ‘path’ to a ‘future time’.

Oddly enough these teachers are heralded as clear teachers – but it is not so – clearly it is not so.

For those who can see, those not under the spell of these ‘teachers’, they are clearly nothing but tyrants and bullies.

Yet – It all appears on or in the same clarity.

There is nothing perceived and no perceiver without seeing (perceiv-ing).   The word ‘Perceiving’ is not the same as the word ‘seeing’.

Whatever the functioning, walking, seeing, hearing, breathing, thinking, it is just plain functioning without a ‘doer’.  – The walker, seer, the hearer, the breather or the thinker are conceptual add ons.  – Trying to grasp it with the mind is truly frustrating, simply because it just can’t be ‘done’ – and the ‘doer’ is just another thought.

Intellectuals find this ‘subject’ exceedingly challenging and frustrating. – Usually ‘in life’ they can ‘stay on top’ via their honed ‘strategy’ mind game but with this, it just doesn’t work.  – ‘People’ get offended.  – The ‘person’ is not reality.  – Intellectuals complain the loudest.

Words appear to convey something.  – Often they feel empty?  – That can be very significant, so it seems.  – Why are ‘we’ so afraid of empty words?

All words are empty (all phenomena is empty). -  It may seem that ‘we’ navigate our way through ‘feeling’ our way.  – All of our preconceived notions are upside down and back to front and second hand.  – The value system of society is biased towards keeping the dream alive.
Who is asleep and who is awake?

Who needs to awaken?

The question “Are you awake?” is a cutting question in the immediacy.  – The response must be “Yes, I am awake”.  – In the instant of checking to see if I am awake there is a ‘silent gap’.  – Upon that silence and stillness the whole universe moves.

Naked Wakefulness is clearly obvious.  – ‘You’ will not be able to define it or label it with any words that will stick to it.

All we can do is point to THAT.

I am THAT – you are THAT.   Everything is THAT.