Realization Has a Downside

Realization may be great for the relief of the great existential questions and internal stress, but it may not relieve the issues you have with other people, especially those close to you that depend on you. Although  realization changes your perspective, it does not change theirs. This fact alone may create issues, especially with ones closest to you.

When the great "Who am I" question is answered, much of relative life and its pursuits lose their meaning. Motivation regarding such goals drop like extra baggage. They are no longer required for your happiness, but those around you, not experiencing the great relief, may find your lack of motivation to be a disaster, a loss of what it takes to make life worth living: chasing experience, getting things done, getting things, the pursuit of happiness. 

When you have a sense of completeness, of wholeness, and any moment is as good as the next, where is the motivation for the pursuit of anything? You are no longer looking for "new and different." Now is good enough. The moment you are having is perfect as it is. You don't ask "What's next?" 

While this is wonderful for you, those who have depended on you to share their pursuits will find you lacking, may find you lazy, no fun anymore. When you have lost the wanting of more things, a bigger house, a newer car, more money, you are no longer on their team. They may turn on you, not understanding where their partner in pursuit of things got lost. 

How do you explain to someone you are already complete? That there is nothing more you need to do to feel okay? This perspective is yours, not theirs, and unless they realize, they will not understand. You may be told you are no longer helpful, understanding, or living in the real world. Try telling them the world they are in is a zero sum game and you're not in it. It doesn't go over well. 

Others will not understand what happened to you. They will feel they have lost you. They have, but how do you tell them that you also lost yourself? How do you tell them you are no longer the personal so and so, but are the impersonal Self? 

There is a moral hazard to realization. You may have found peace, but those around you may find you frustrating, indifferent, unattached. And you are. 

Perfection

The world cannot be other than perfect.

From our human construct we may disagree. That is to be expected. We appear to be a body that has needs and desires and a wrong move may cause pain or even death.

But from the perspective of Self, nothing could possibly be wrong. From the source which we can know as Awareness itself, manifestation arises. The universe, and beings of infinite variety appear, provide experience, and disappear. But nothing arises other than That. Existence itself is nothing but That.

Being that Awareness/Consciousness is all there is, the essence of everything is That, doing as it will, as every particle and every sentient being. There is no second Self to judge, or compare, or determine that anything less than perfection exists. 

Intuition

The intuition I had from childhood created a continual neti neti process that I was not conscious of. The intuition was that there was a truth that I needed to know or understand. The intuition insisted I had to find that something which when found I would know. This intuition was powerful and unyielding and drove me to examine everything.

The paradox was that the intuition did not directly point to what it was that I had to know. This resulted in all experiences, beliefs, and concepts, being subjected to examination in the light of the intuition. The intuition could not directly give me the understanding, but it was without failure in saying, "No, not this. No, not this."

This process went on for years. When I finally realized, "I am That," the intuition that was the driving force of my seeking, relaxed, and felt satisfied.

It is interesting now to know that one of the Vedic principals is "Neti Neti," Not this, not that. There is the admonition that what you see, or feel, or think is not it. The directive is designed to force you back out of experience into the subject of all experience, the Self.

I did not have that directive because I didn't know the Vedic tradition, but I did have the intuition that created that same process. Intuition was the directive for me, but it could not point directly, so I spent many years exploring, only to continually discover, not this, not this.

In the end, it did know what it wanted me to realize, and it did prove to be true. It was the strongest  tool I had. Although it could not me give me direction, it recognized the goal when it was found.

Silent Potential

Awareness is the potential. That is why it is called silent. It is still, available, ready to accept whatever appears. It is a void, open to whatever comes into existence.

Awareness is whole, non judgmental, undisturbable, blank. It is inviting. It is being itself, the ground of infinite potential. Everything in existence appears in it.

Consciousness is whatever appears in awareness, be it a thought, an emotion, a view, a touch, a sound. Any movement in the field becomes a conscious experience to awareness. Anything may appear. All is allowed. Therefore we call it love.

Enlightenment is the consciousness of that silent blank field. It is the knowing of the silence. The knowing of the eternal ground from which all things arise. It is the knowing of "I am that."