Meaning and Pleasure

Meaning and pleasure do not necessarily coincide. Often meaning is hard won, stressful and difficult. Yet, meaning, purpose, and wisdom are the result. 

Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  ― Man's Search for Meaning

Having children may not always be pleasant. It can be excruciating if your child is sick, or is in an accident. But caring for the child can be more meaningful than many personal pursuits. 

Joy and pleasure may bring meaning. There is often great meaning in the ecstasy of a spiritual experience. Contact with the source of life often carries joy beyond expression. When this happens we are blessed. But, when we are suffering, there is also meaning. Look for it. It may bring you freedom and wisdom.

The Morphogenic Field

 The Morphogenic Field

Just as we have principles of geometry, the forms life takes in nature have principles underlying their manifestation. Prior to the manifestation of living form, the pattern on which it is based must exist. If this is so, it is not much of a conjecture to suppose that living creatures have an etheric body (a morphogenic field). 

Since the etheric principles exist before the manifestation of form, the etheric body likely persists after the death of the form. Being that the universe is an information system, the etheric body likely contains the conscious experience of that form. The preservation of those experiences would imply a personal self after death. Near death experiences are the anecdotal evidence of this.

Consciousness Is Fundamental

So when the scientist does his experiment, taking in all the observations and measurements, all of that is an experience. Seeing, measuring, and organizing data is an experience. The scientist experiences seeing changes, hearing changes, feeling changes. The analytical understanding of the experiment is in consciousness. 

I get it that science repeats experiments to get a proof of a concept. But it is all experience, and it is all in consciousness. Even the scientist's body is an experience in consciousness. Not a big step for me that consciousness is fundamental.

The Gift of Eternal Life

If you take into account all the various religious traditions and strip away all the trappings, you get a simple recognition that there is a higher power and eternal life. Traditions suggest that there is a purpose to life and that we are to love one another. 

Simpler yet is the recognition that the the primary experience of life is awareness. From the Hebrew "I am" to the Hindu "You are That," it's all the same awareness. 

Everything that is aware is living. What we are aware of may be different, but the fact of awareness is the ground of experience. The question is whether this awareness is the same in all living beings. The answer is yes. I recall Nisargadatta saying that the awareness in him and the awareness in a donkey were the same. The fact that the awareness is filtered through a different lens does not change the ground of awareness. 

Enlightenment is simply the knowing that we are ultimately that awareness and not the particular form that is aware. This experience gives us the sense of eternal life. There may be an ongoing individual soul, or not. It doesn't matter. We are that eternal awareness. I can do nothing but trust that because I am That, and that is all there is. This is so fundamental for me that all religion is just the wrapping on a gift. The gift is inside, always and forever. 

Tribalism

I see us all as tribal. It's a natural human trait. We all have tendencies to love our group and hate the others. It just depends which side we identify with. If we could all own our tribalism we might be able to override it to some degree. Look how tribal the US has gotten. We've lost our religious faith and now we have turned politics into religion. I am disgusted by the wokeness groupthink of left, and the Trump cultism on the right. When group identity takes over our divine sovereignty we all go straight to hell. I see the tribalism in me and try to put a check on it. None of us are innocent, or we are all innocent.

The Image of the World

Think "no thingness." Existence implies something. If the universe is mental, and God is the creator, the material world is an image. It's an image in God's mind, and since we are created in God's image, we can see the images as well.

Nothingness is just unmanifest. What is unmanifest is just pure potential. Existence manifest or not always was, is, and will be. Mind without end.

2+ 2= 4 is a mental equation. Two oranges placed with two more oranges is the image of the equation in the world. As above, so below. 

The Universe Is Mental

If you think deeply about it, Consciousness and existence cannot be separate. To me that is obvious. Existence remains even if there is no manifest universe. Call it awareness or Being. 

Materialistic logic will not see this point. The new science coming out of quantum physics, however, will put science back on Solid Ground. The great QM physicists stated "The universe is mental." Time for humanity to catch up to reality. It's a return to what the ancients knew. Humbling, isn't it? 

Matter Appears

I see Being and awareness as being essentially the same. Awareness is not in matter, but matter is in awareness. 

Transcendence

I always felt there was more going on than I was aware of, more going on in the background than I could put my finger on. It was intuition pushing me into the unknown. How could I pull more from the underlying background? 

Since I didn't create myself, there had to be a transcendent factor that existed. The driving question was to understand that transcendent factor. After reading thousands of spiritual books and having had numerous mystical experiences, the bottom line appeared to be the simple fact of "awareness." If anything was universal to sentient beings, it was awareness. First it was awareness of the great other. Eventually I realized that the great other's awareness and my awareness were one. 

I can't explain why I feel so confident that awareness or consciousness is the eternal primordial condition. It just seems that an intelligent awareness had to be there for the big bang to occur. The principles of geometry, math, and physics had to be there before the big bang. These principles are not objects. They are mental. So for me the fundamentals of this universe are mental, and awareness is the knowing function of that primordial existence. Since awareness is also my fundamental nature I am also that eternal fundamental existence. That gives me peace. I don't really need to understand more than this

Is Consciousness Fundamental

I've read pretty much everything J. Krishnamurti ever wrote. It was great stuff for unravelling my conditioning. I had a lot and it caused a lot of pain. Made me realize that the more out of touch with reality one is, the more one suffers. That's a generalization, of course, but overall, quite true. The deepest part of me kept intuiting that the level of mental anguish I had could not be normal or in line with what life was meant to be. I spent a lot of years in Gestalt therapy and did a lot of dreamwork. Came out the other side pretty freed up. Well worth my time and effort. 

Now, when I read J. Krishnamurti, I get nothing from it. So, I conclude that JK is great for getting you to release your conditioning, but he does not point well to a path to enlightenment. Nisargadatta, Franklin Merrell-Wolff, and William Samuel are very exquisite at pointing out methods to subtler, higher levels of consciousness. I especially like William Samuel as his method is direct pointing to awareness as fundamental. 

As David Hawkins and others point out clearly, you can't prove the existence of God. Some of us feel it. Some of us don't. In the end each of us have to become an authority unto ourselves. If you think you've got the truth and you get fanatic about it, you probably are fooling yourself. But, if you have that self authority and humility at the same time, then I think you can trust it.

 So many sciences follow rigorous logic and the scientific method. Still, there are always some basic assumptions that are just fundamental. I think the issue of consciousness being fundamental is one of those basic assumptions. You either start from there or you don't. After that point, whatever follows is on a different track. There's no bridge between them. It's too fundamental. 

Being Awareness

I really don't see a bridge between those who believe the brain creates consciousness and those who believe the brain is in consciousness. These are really separate world views. It took me years of reading and contemplation to see that matter was just an appearance in consciousness, and to see that my body was too. My mind however is of the same essence as the creator as it is aware. So, at death it's only the body that goes. My essence is as eternal as the Absolute.

Dream of the One

"Treating everything as a dream liberates." ~ Nisargadatta. 

So many great sages have said this in so many ways. A great pointer. If everything in our life is a dream, who is the dreamer? That can only be the Source, the Absolute. That knowing awareness is our root. The root of everything. And we are That. It's really that simple. 

Being Awareness

I have a sense of self in a body and mind. But I also know I am not the doer. I'm a focal point of awareness. Donkey's have the same awareness I do, but my awareness goes through a human perception, while the donkey's awareness goes through a donkey lens. The pure aware beingness, aliveness, is the same. 

There is only one fundamental truth that we are sure of: that we exist. I equate that essence of knowing existence as the ground of Being. So I am one with that, and that is the doer. Meanwhile I play at being Maury.

 

QM & Lila

Anything anyone is aware of is subjective. Science is a method of trying to get the subjectivity out, or at least minimize it. We know how well that works. So we have peer review. But, the subjective is always fundamental. Schizophrenics have experiences that most of us don't think are real. So the problem becomes one of consensus. 

NDE's and Out of Body experiences seem to have a consensus among experiencers. I haven't had any of these, but I believe they are real. For me this is enough proof that consciousness is not local. Q Physics seems to be pointing out that everything is mental. I'm in agreement with them too. Ultimately it appears that this is a virtual world and all in God's mind. That would make everything subjective. All one mind's adventure. Lila as they say in the East.

Images In Consciousness

For me, the idea that the universe is an appearance in consciousness seems plausible. A duality does appear in that there is inert matter and living organisms. A living organism has a sense of self (outside and inside) whereas a rock does not. An amoeba seeks that which is beneficial to maintaining its structure, while a rock does not. While everything appears in consciousness, living beings have self consciousness while inert matter does not. Yet the rock and living being arise in consciousness.

The essence of awareness is Godlike in that it is fundamental to our knowing and survival.  Awareness is where the feeling "I am" occurs. If everything is in consciousness why are some images self aware and some are not? I guess those of us with awareness need a playing field.  The gamer is still God.

The Ladder Analogy

Many sages have used the ladder analogy. You can  learn best from someone a rung above you on the ladder. Higher than that it is likely you won't understand what they are teaching. I found this to be true in my search.

In the end you have to become your own authority. I always had an intuitive sense of what was beneficial to me. I followed that intuition. I did not select a single path, but followed anything that resonated.

I devoured many teachers and moved on when I felt I understood. I studied with my intellect and followed my intuition. Yes, some teachers are at a much higher level of consciousness than others. I have come to understand that there is no final end point. There are many awakenings. Even those who we consider enlightened progress to deeper and more subtle understandings.

Follow what resonates with you. If you trust someone because they embody what you are seeking, ask them who they studied. Then test the teacher or teaching. Does it resonate with you? Does it give you a sense of truth, a sense of clarity? Remember, in the end, it is you who becomes the truth. Then there is no one to follow.

You Are Not In Charge

The cure to anxiety seems to be the deliberate acceptance of life as it is. Bad things happen. Death comes. When what life entails is deeply accepted, then there is not much to be anxious about. Of course, this does not mean you don't feel empathy, or promote what you see as good. It just means you don't judge how life should be.You have your preferences, but you are not in charge.

What Rumi Knew

 Rumi said, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing & rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there." Ah, to be in that space has to be profound. It points to the Absolute that can neither be right nor wrong. Who is to judge what the Absolute is doing? Do you see this? Can you take it in? If you can, then you can be at peace with whatever is going on. 

It doesn't mean we don't do the next right thing. It doesn't mean we persons don't have preferences. But we are talking about ultimate truth, beyond relativity. In the Absolute there is no right or wrong. There is no freedom or bondage. There is no lie. When we know this we play our role willingly, peacefully. It's a surrender because we know the truth.

Existence Is Awareness

The one thing you can't deny is that you exist. That sense of existence is pure awareness. That is what you are! Not a thing, not a person, just awareness. This knowing gives peace. 

You don't have to contemplate nothingness. No matter how insubstantial everything is, there remains existence. 

Awareness is not personal, but it does experince the personal. Once this distinction is known deeply your true eternal existence provides peace. Sat Chit Ananda.

Step Out Of The Map

A great expression is "The map is not the territory." People fall in love with the map. They get all tangled up in the markers and names. The map is so helpful that fall in love with it and forget to put it down and experience the territory itself. 

Religion is a path for connection to God. But people fall in love with their religion and fight wars over the diffeerences. They forget that all roads lead to Rome. When you've crossed the river you don't have to carry the boat wherever you go. 

What do you need to carry when you know you are That?