Dreaming the Waking State

If you want to know if the world we live and breathe in is made solely of consciousness, a perfect example would be dream sleep. In dream sleep a whole world is created from consciousness alone. Familiar objects are seen as well as objects created by the dream state. One may travel far and wide, visiting places one has never been to before.

Upon awakening, one is overjoyed with the dream, or dismayed. If enjoyed, one says, "I wish this were true." If one did not enjoy the dream, one says, "Thank God that was just a nightmare." No one claims the dream to be real since one knows that one went to bed and slept, arising in the morning from the same bed. It was a creation of consciousness alone.

How far a step is it to realize that the waking world is any different. Consciousness alone allows you to know you are in the waking world, and consciousness alone is therefore the creator of it. The only difference is that waking consciousness has more continuity. In no other way are they different.

Consciousness alone is the creator and destroyer of worlds. We are that consciousness. In dreams we admit that we are the creator, but in the waking state we don't see it. That ignorance in the waking state  is what prevents us from knowing, I Am pure awareness itself. 

A to Z

If the path from ignorance to truth was a trip from A to Z, would one jump from A to Z, or would one go from A to B to C, or maybe C to E? Jumping from A to Z might be quite chaotic, disruptive, and much less than fun. Taking smaller jumps would let one absorb the disruptions with more ease. That is what I did. Early in childhood I had no words such as conditioning, or vasanas, but I intuitively knew that people were stuck in ruts, beliefs of all kinds that were adopted to fit in. For some reason I detested this, and it created a deep disgust in me. I refused to get baptized even though my father was a minister. I told him I would only be doing it to please everyone and that was the wrong reason. At eighteen I went to college in Southern California. It was the late sixties. It only took a couple weeks for all my beliefs to come crashing down. Even though I had resented conditioning, I had absorbed a shitload of it. When my whole structure of beliefs came crashing down, stark emptiness, meaninglessness, and confusion became my world. If there is a hell, I was in it. I didn't know that I could survive without beliefs, so I got busy getting new ones. I read voraciously, but I could only read what was close to where I had been, but with a little stretch. That was A to B to C. However, one day I noticed that what I was doing. I saw that I would take a little step, drop a belief and pick a new one that seemed more in line with the truth. When I saw the process, I thought why couldn't I just drop them all? Around that time I picked up a book by J. Krishnamurti. It was right up my alley. He proposed dropping all beliefs and just living with the unknown. He took my mind apart, but in a good way, because he showed that one could live without a self. It was the jump from A to Z. That jump caused me to have mystical experiences of oneness. But they didn't last. Those glimpses were so powerful, that even though they left, the ecstasy and meaningfulness of them, remained powerful drivers for further seeking. Eventually I came to Advaita Vedanta as taught by James Swartz. This satisfied me in a way that J. Krishnamurti and others did not. Of primary importance was that the teaching was complete. No holes, well explained. What does Advaita do? It breaks down unexamined beliefs, shows why they are false (reversed per Maya), and provide answers that make sense, and can't really be challenged once you understand them. Advaita takes one gently from A to B to C, step by step and leads you home. It's a formal process similar to what I found going on in my own search. Vedanta was a confirmation of the process I haphazardly went through. Vedanta is just much better as it is thoroughly vetted and answers all the questions. Things would have been much easier for me If I had found Advaita Vedanta sooner. Thank you James.

Awareness Is Not Personal

Awareness is not personal, so personal experience of oneness is not enlightenment. Enlightenment is the knowledge that I am awareness. With this knowledge, personal experience becomes rather unnecessary, for every experience is just an object in awareness. Only extracting the knowledge of awareness from experience makes the experience valuable. 

Awareness Is All

You can negate any label, form, or experience as not you. But you cannot negate the knower, Awareness. You can only be That! Awareness is, and when it recognizes itself, what more is there to know?           

The End of Suffering

We only suffer mentally when we are out of touch with reality. Reality is that which doesn't change. Therefore, to end suffering, we must be that which doesn't change. We know that awareness is always available and doesn't change. It just observes. What we think we are, a body/mind, changes. We observe the changes. We know we are different today and yesterday, and we will be different tomorrow. Since we observe that, we must be that awareness that never changes. To realize that is to end suffering, to be awake to reality.

Freedom From Samsara

Existentially, the only thing needed, to bring peace and contentment, is to realize that fundamentally, essentially, factually, we are awareness itself. Everything that comes after that, objects, feelings, thoughts, judgments, are trifling matters. They are appearances in consciousness only. They are not fundamental to what we are. They are diversions that drag us off into samsara.

Presence

The one thing we can know is that there is a precense here, without judgement, observing, and it is everything being observed. That precense is you.

Choiceless awareness is the field which the body/mind corrupts with ideas, prejudice and desires. Stepping back from our filters, turning inward, reveals this awareness. It is peaceful because it isn't judging. It is the silence that is joy unto itself.

Stability

It is much more comfortable to say "I am awareness," rather than say "I am Maury, a person." The reason is simple. Awareness never changes, but Maury does. I am not the same person I was as a child, teenager, or young adult. But the awareness of these states hasn't changed. It follows then, that the only stable factor is awareness. Can I depend on Maury who never stays the same? Or can I depend on awareness that does not change.

So Much Time. So Little To Do

All of us are aware, but few of us realize that WE ARE awareness. It is ordinary awareness, always available, and never takes any effort. Being eternal there is no rush, and it really has nothing to do but watch. Pretty simple. So much time. So little to do.

Open Senses

Senses

The eyes do not chose what they see. They are an open system. Whatever appears, the mind forms the images.

The ears do not choose what they hear. If a sound occurs, pleasant or ugly, the ears hear it.

The nose may like certain smells and despise others, but whatever smell arises, it registers.

The tongue likewise, tastes whatever is put into the mouth, good or bad.

Touch is also open to whatever is in the environment, hot or cold, windy or still.

What is common to all these systems is that they are open. One might say that they possess choiceless awareness.

Of course our bodymind can take action and avoid certain sights and sounds, and select the food we like. But the senses themselves are open, choiceless.

We can see that the essence of all our sense organs is open Awareness.

All sentient beings, regardless of name and form, have senses that are open. In essence, sentience is Awareness.

Awareness at the cosmic level registers all the sensations, all the experiences of all the sentient beings. It is open to all, choicelessly, and that is love.

Since Awareness is the essence of all experience and knowledge, we must be that love. 

My Body, Mind, and Personality

The hints are all over in plain sight. Our self referencing talk is full of it: my mind, my body, my personality. Yes, there is a body, mind, personality for each of us. But isn't it strange that we always use a linguistic subject object split? We always refer to the subject "my", and the objects: body, mind, and personality.

We all say "my" when referring to body, mind personality. The "my" is universal, the body, mind and parts are just functions.The subject has no attributes, it's simple ordinary Awareness.

This obvious linguistic split we use every day, points directly to our true self, Awareness. The objects are the body/mind parts and attributes. So, even our everyday language reveals the truth of Advaita Vedanta. We are not these bodies, parts and minds. We are the universal Awareness that knows them. How much more obvious can it be? 

The Destination

You can be assured of one thing. The destination is always available. It is always here. Always everywhere. Presence is a good word. You Awareness, is always present. So really, how far do you have to look?

Any Movie Will Do

Imagine going to the movies without caring about what movie is showing. It doesn't matter, any show is fair game. Whatever the movie, you watch without judgement, without opinion. You just enjoy it. Sort of like Awareness.