If you look closely at thoughts moment by moment, you will see that the thoughts are not generated by a conceptual "I" at all. "You" actually do not create the next thought. It appears and the mind steps in and erroneously interprets that the thought was generated by the phantom character called "I". There is no such entity present. John Wheeler
Go here for more from this lecture / presentation / satsang / whatever you choose to call it. . .
On the spiritual search we hear about something called our "true nature" and we also hear that the ego is an illusion - a problem we must somehow get rid of. Fascinated by this proposition we go about looking for a way to somehow dissolve the ego and then get hold of this thing called our true nature, awareness, being or any of the seductive terms we have heard about. The next thing we might hear is that we have to find out if our ego exists - to investigate the self and see where this “I” sense is coming from. However, when inquiring into the existence of a separate self, or “I”, the mind will simply not be satisfied with the answer it finds when it sees the unavoidable. Perhaps there will be a strained mental search, furiously scanning that field of experience which you think of as yourself, and yet nothing will turn up. Unsatisfied the mind will continue searching, irritated, like an insect flying up against a glass pane it is unable to see.
It is as if the mind were looking up at the heavens and asking “what number is the sky?”, always finding the only answer it can ever find - an empty blue expanse. Unsatisfied it continues puzzling, enquiring, desperately looking for the the right number - it must be a number, it thinks with certainty. Perhaps it then begins dreaming about what sort of number the sky might be - probably a really BIG number, it speculates, unable to accept or even notice the the vast expanse of blueness right in front of it.
Similarly, when investigating the reality of what you are with the expectation of finding an object, or thing, your conceptual mind will never accept the evidence that what you are is not a thing. The investigation is based on a false premise. The mind can never contain what you are - it can only attempt to make slippery mental image about it; offering a fleeting, highly unstable signifier known as a thought. As with the sky in the afore mentioned example, what you are in reality is like that obvious blue expanse which can never be reduced to a concept - certainly not the ‘number’ that the flawed question demands. Until you are willing to drop the expectation for the answer to look a certain way, you cannot find what is always disguised as the obvious. And when the expectation is dropped, before you lies the truth plain as day; open, available and effortlessly ever present like the heavens above. - Chad Barber
The answers we seek are only sought so that the "I" that we imagine ourselves to be will gain something – knowledge, or getting a step closer to enlightenment, or a feeling of satisfaction, or a feeling of control or mastery. - Annette Nibley
Your true essence is total Peace and Love. This Peace is not the opposite of war or conflict, it is the Peace that accepts the appearance of war and conflict. This Love is not the opposite of hate, it is the Love that unconditionally accepts all that arises, including hate.
This Peace and Love are not something that need to be or could be found or developed or learned. This Peace and Love is the essential nature of Being.
In this Peace and Love, there is childlike innocence, magical wonder, great ease... but "YOU" can never find it. The presence of a "YOU" is the seeming separation of "ME" from "the world." In this separation, there is conflict, suffering, striving, desire and fear. We feel we've lost that innocence, that wonder - and we're seeking to get something, maybe Enlightenment?
So there is nothing that can be done to "get" this Peace and Love, nothing "I" can do to find it - simply because the belief in the "I" is the very obscuring factor in recognizing this already-present Peace and Love.
The search is just more of the mind denying the magic and wonder of THIS, what's actually presently happening. Maybe in the future I'll get my questions answered or I'll meditate enough and be able to see it.
But no "I" could ever see it. No search could ever lead to it. And there are no answers as to what can "I" do to see it. "I" can never see it. For the "I" is only another thought arising, another belief created out of strung-together memories.
The only answer lies in the sound of the wind in the trees, the feeling of a warm bath, the smell of hot chocolate-chip cookies and even in the desperate struggle of the homeless, the putrid smell of the sewer, and the pain of love lost.
Peace and Love can only ever be exactly THIS right now - exactly this very ordinary moment, which the mind doesn't care to see, in preference for what might be. - Randall Friend
There are no realized persons, since the whole point is to see that you have never been a person at all. So in seeing this, who is left with any characteristics to speak of? You are pure non-conceptual awareness itself, which is not a body, mind, person or any other concept, idea or thing. You are "no thing". So what attributes does "no thing" have or need? No-thing does not mean a vacuum or void. In spite of being no thing, you ARE. And what you are is aware. And what you are is perfectly whole, complete, adequate, untouched, beyond manifestation and at peace. This is also the source of life, energy and intelligence of all that appears. There are many pointers to what you are. All are inadequate because you are not a word! - John Wheeler
The mind loves the idea of enlightenment being some kind of distant, virtually unobtainable, perfect place of permanent bliss, free from suffering and full of omniscience, omnipresence and lots of other important ‘omni’s’ stomping around, shouting the odds and saving the world. And of course, because all this glory and specialness has to be attained, it seems there has to be a long haul through the dark night of the soul, endless past karmas, original sin, right-thinking, right action and preparation for the bardos. “It is a tale told by a fool, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Yet Natural Being is such an ordinary and gentle constant. When it is seen it is. When it is avoided it is. It requires no effort and demands no standards. Being timeless there is no path to tread, no debt to pay. When this is heard and confusion collapses, when the contraction of struggling to get something falls away and the vibrant energy of being aliveness becomes apparent, something else is seen, very naturally of course, because it is already all that is. - Tony Parsons
Nothing changes in the life of the seeming individual, once it is noticed that witnessing is all that is ever going on. A life, with all its ups and downs, with all its selfish interactions and illogical behaviors, will go on just as before.
There never was an individual there. So why would the story of the life change? Why would it get “more lighted,” or more peaceful, or more “spiritual”? Why would dramas and upsets disappear? That “life” is not yours – it is not a reflection of you.
Do not make the mistake of thinking of yourself as the owner of a life. You are not. An owner is not there, period. It is absent, to the very core. There is no owner, no individual, no reference point for any events in that life to refer to.
Where does the individual come from, then? Who is the individual who is thinking that there is an individual?
It is only being created right now, in a mistaken thought. It does not and never did exist over time, as an objective thing. Until you imagine an individual right now, it never was. See that all reference points only emerge from this one, current, mistaken thought, presently. And in the next new moment, all reference points vanish. It’s always a new day. . .
I remember some conversations. I remember some events. All kinds of memories are arising right now – a constant stream of them flowing through my mind. But I can’t find a person to whom they apply. I notice that this thought contains a reference to an event, but I was never involved in that event. I’ve always just been here, right now, where nothing is ever happening.
I have no reference point for what that event means. Some bodies talked and interacted. I was there as witness, but I have no idea what was going on. The only way I could make sense of what went on is if I assume an “avatar” of some kind, a fictional personality with certain traits which make it want to attract some things and avoid other things. Then, all the events have meaning and fall together as story. But I have no such personality. I am no one. The events fall away as they occur, into nothingness. Right now – always right now – I am free of all of it. So are you.
Everything falls silent. It all comes to a complete standstill. Nothing is happening. There is mental activity; any thought can arise. There is physical activity; all kinds of things can happen. But all this activity – mental and physical – is simply swirling gently within this utter stillness. The stillness is total.
This stillness does not need to be identified with. Let go of trying to “identify” with the witnessing presence. There is no one to do this. Witnessing is happening, and it’s impossible to be unaware of. So forget about it. - Annette Nibley
There is no progress or deepening in understanding who you are, because you are already that pure being, awareness and peace itself. To speak of progress concedes the concept of individuality or separation between yourself and reality. It is more emphatic to drop all such notions and just be what you are. Everything else is simply an idea arising in awareness. One does not progress to awareness, for one already is this. - John Wheeler
Is this your story?
“It hasn’t really taken hold yet.”
“The full realization is not here yet.”
“I’m not completely detached from my story yet.”
“The last penny to drop seemingly hasn't happened yet.”
“Although I have read everything, I feel like I don’t get it yet.”
Any of those sound familiar? Sure they do. And they are all false. “Yet” is only a misunderstanding – a mistake in your thinking – that something is supposed to happen. Nothing is going to happen, and misunderstanding this is your only obstacle. Would you be waiting or trying for something to happen, if you were convinced nothing was ever going to happen? I doubt it! So the seeking stops.
Once you know that nothing is going to happen, and there is literally no one for anything to happen to, then you will naturally stop trying or waiting or expecting. And what becomes obvious is that there never was a person who needed anything – knowledge, realization, freedom, integrated understanding – nothing! Not even “knowing that you know”! There is simply no one here to need anything. You are not separate and trying to regain your status as whole. No, you've always been this, never apart from or other than this whole.
The mind will jump to “I understand there is no one to awaken, but I want to really get this!” That’s a contradictory statement, and so take a look at how it still assumes the belief that there is an “I” who gets something. There is not. Go after the belief that you are a separate “I,” instead of going after the promised land of “after the penny drops for me.” The seeking can only be stopped by going after the false belief. The belief you still have is that there is an entity, and it will experience a penny dropping. It will not. But you still believe that it will, and that's why you're still working towards it. Aren't you sick of it? . . .
The seeking does not stop because one “finally gets” the realization, or one “completely detaches” from the story. No! The seeking stops WHEN IT IS SEEN THAT THERE IS NO SEEKER. That's all there is to it. There is no seeker, no “you.” That someone is not real. What is real is one life living, impersonally, and it is experienced by you now as awareness. . .
See that there is no seeker, and it's over. That's the only way! As long as the seeker believes there is more to get, more to learn, a final dropping to feel, then the search goes on. As long as there is a seeker, there is a search. Blow the seeker out of the water, and the search is over.
I know that this can be heard at one level, and yet there is a nagging "I'll do what she says. I'll try this and then I'll finally get it." No. The point is that "getting" is for people. Being a person is suffering. Finding you are not a person is to see that the suffering never existed, nothing was ever needed. Nothing to get, for no one. There is just this hereness, now, with no “you” to know it, and that's it. Nothing else is happening. - Annette Nibley
All there is is No-thing Being Everything and what appears as part of that everything is the belief and experience of being a separate self — an apparent individual with its own free will, choice and ability to act. This happening is uniquely human and is called self-consciousness. To most people it is the reality.
That apparent feeling of being separate is at the root of the suffering, inadequacy and sense of loss that drives people to search for escape or resolution. It is Being dreaming that it is apart from itself, looking all over the place for that which is already Everything. It is the hypnotic dream of separation which, for the dreamer, is very real.
The dilemma for the dream seeker is that the feeling of separation drives the seeking for resolution, which further fuels the sense of separation.
The development of an intelligent understanding 'mind' apparently brings with it the ability to make choices and take actions in an attempt to negotiate with 'the world' lived in. These negotiations are not always successful and the individual seems to experience its own pain and pleasure. It also develops a great respect for the guidance and control apparently emanating from the understanding 'mind'. However, as long as there is a sense of separation, there is a sense of disquiet or loss and there is a seeking to dispel that sense. It seems logical that the much respected understanding 'mind' must be capable of investigating the cause of this disquiet and discovering ways of dispelling it.
The separate entity can only try to imagine or project an idea of what it must be like not to be separate. What is sought is the possibility of a future goal or state that can be realised and therefore, logically, must be approachable. Consequently, the function of seeking and the teaching of becoming locks the seeker into a state of continuously approaching something that it cannot comprehend. All of this is the expression of Being, arising as the good, old, dependable and reliable understanding ‘mind’ functioning as it can only function . . . in continual movement and anticipation. It is this activity of becoming which very effectively keeps the seeker in the hypnotic dream of reaching out for something it cannot grasp. - Tony Parsons
At some point it dawns that we have been home all the time and were once dreaming that we were out in the world traveling to a spiritual paradise. And home is simple childlike happiness. - Felipe Oliviera
There is no such thing as a personal awakening or enlightenment. Consciousness is all there is. This is what you have always been and are now. It manifested as the dream of being someone who was seeking enlightenment or awakening. Seek and work as you please; nothing will be found but This. - Felipe Oliviera
Do you want to know what IT is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. - Morpheus, The Matrix
A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein
John Wheeler is one of the clearest writers at describing the true nature of what we are. From his website:
This is about knowing yourself, not analyzing appearances. Body, mind, feelings and experiences come and go. They are all appearances, but they are not your abiding being. If all those things come and go, what is it that always remains in spite of those changing appearances? There is the sense of being, which is both present and aware. Do not just verbalize this, but recognize it as fact, as direct experience and knowing. Your own being is the one constant.
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When appearances are negated, what remains? Did you disappear? Aren't you present and aware? That presence-awareness is your real abiding nature. You cannot negate that. It is the abiding essence. You do not have to try to identify as that. That would be conceptual. You are naturally and effortlessly that. You cannot deny your being and its aware nature. There is no subsequent process. To try to "go forward" from there would only be going back into thought. Just pause in that gap and notice that you are already what you are seeking.
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All appears in the space of knowing presence. In the end, it is that simple. That is you. There is no "you" apart from that. There is nothing to do, ultimately, because that is what you are.
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Once the interest in the beliefs and identities drops away due to not taking them as real, a lot more space and openness is present. To the mind used to its old stories and opinions, this perspective may appear bland or empty. Just settle in with that seeming "no thing", which is your real nature. In truth, it is clear, bright, vibrant and full of life.
More from John Wheeler:
The key is simply not to believe self-referring thoughts. Any thoughts, personas and identities in thought about "me" can be let go of. Why? Because you are not a thought or an image created in thought.
From Felipe Oliviera:
Absolute peace cannot be found in the relative. It cannot be found in objects or experiences. When the object of desire is acquired or when the climax of an experience is reached, a moment of impersonal peace or happiness is experienced. However, because the focus is on the apparent means to that happiness and not on the source of that happiness, it is short lived and psychological suffering and seeking resume. Greed, hatred, envy, fear are all based on a genuine longing for eternal peace gone misdirected.
Absolute peace cannot be found in time or space, in thought or sensation. Absolute peace — the peace that does not come and go — is here now as the backdrop to all experience. See that the one who searches for peace is searching for it in the conceptual and the perceptual realms, both of which are relative and changeful — dualistic. All experiences invite and become their opposites. All objects that exist cease to exist. In the relative what is present must become absent. Nothing is permanent in the relative — in the mind; in the world.
At one point the fact dawns or is pointed out that the fulfillment of our deepest desire for permanent absolute peace lies in another realm altogether. It lies in the realization that the world and all experiences are appearances on the screen of pure Being. Life can go on as it pleases — as it always has and will. Peace is the peace of simple being.
From John Wheeler:
There is no person and no one separate from what is. So there is no answer to the question "Why did separation happen?" It did not. Karma, processes, conditioning, levels, states, attainments — all this is provisional and false and depends on the presumed presence of the person to whom all of this pertains. It is all imagination. If there is no person, then the root is pulled on all of it. There is no need for time or process. You are what you are. That is all that is pointed out. In that, all is complete. There is nowhere to get to apart from what you already are. So do not grasp hold of some concept or notion and believe you are not "there". Even all spiritual teachings and the highest non-dual pointers must be left behind. They are all pointers and conceptual only. Once you see your non-conceptual nature beyond the mind, you have no more need for pointers. If you return to them, you will turn back to the mind and start looking for the answer in the mind again and it will not be fruitful. Try that if you must, but see that you will not get anything more than what you already are.
