SAME SELF

(Q&A from a Philosophy Class at College of the Siskiyous)

1. With billions of people on this planet, so many different selves, how could it be possible that they are all one self?

First one has to let go of all apparent "others," including who they think they are.  When that is dissolved, then what remains?  How do you express to one that thinks they exist, that without the personality, there is no one there, that there is actual emptiness there and only emptiness there and yet the word emptiness has to be dissolved also, because emptiness is also a lie, just like the personality is.  If you tell someone that they are no-thing at all, they will still go looking for something, because they think they are something … it is nearly a futile work, to attempt to share with another that there is only one, because even saying one "implies that there are more than one, so it is actually less than Zero.  Zero, no-thing is aware.  It is what is looking out of your eyes.  It is silent and still, it does not move and yet it sees everything.  It has been and is aware of you, it is closer than your own breath and it moves and animates you, you who are reading this, are just a thought that appears in front of the Self.  Who wants to hear that they have misidentified themselves as a thought?  Well apparently you do, or you wouldn't be reading this.

2.  What makes a Self?

Nothing, no-thing, makes a Self.  You are in Self, Self IS, it cannot be made from things in this world.  Self just IS and the mind, you that are reading this, think in terms of time and so you cannot understand something that has no beginning and no end.  Yet that is how it is with Self, no beginning, no end, no time, nothing to attach to.  As you relax and let go of understanding, you will know this, not from understanding but from Knowing.  This is guaranteed but you can not use the mind to verify it, the mind will begin to assist you in not using it, once you realize that you can't in this domain, but this does take quite a bit of willingness to stop trying to figure everything out and sit back, smile and enjoy the ride.  Your help is not needed here that is the good news.  Less help = more Awareness.  :o)  Though if you insist on helping then sit quietly whenever possible, give yourself time to sit without moving, fixing, doing and ask the question, "Who am I?" and sit and wait as the thoughts tell you who you are, and do not accept them as true or false, just let them come and watch them go, that is a good practice/help for the mind.

3. Do the characteristics that distinguish one self from another come from the self, or from beyond the self?

"All is the Self."  There are not two, there is only one thing going on, one movement that appears as if it is many movements, but that is only because you are not aware of the screen that the movement appears on.  Take a digital picture and then zoom in and in, you will see it becomes more and more pixelated until you get to nothing, no-thing at all.  When you can no longer visually see or understand what you are looking at, then draw back out you begin to see all the little squares pull back together to make an image before you that you recognize, but they are not separate they are all one thing in the picture, one picture that appears separated by edges and color that blur as you zoom in, it is not different than the world, universe, body, which will become more apparent with 3-D animation.  This is not said to lessen life or the beauty and the magic of it's creation.  The wise will pay the attention to the "no-thing" that you are, do not waste the time trying to figure out how the world is not real, spend the time investigating who you are.  Spend the time asking the question, "Who am I?" for the real Gift of Seeing.

4. Is the self without restrictions still self, or would it not better be called God? 

Restrictions are for this world there is no restriction that can be placed upon the Self because the self is not in this world; the world is in it.  If there is to be restriction, there will be.  There is no need to worry or concern oneself with how things will be in this world, if you know you are always in the perfect moment, because you are.  So one just begins to see that, beyond what the mind/thoughts say, if you can look around and see that you have everything that you need to be in the moment you are in, then you can stop lying to yourself about how things have to change for you to be happy or whatever it is that you think you want to be different. 

 

THINKING ...

My Teacher used to say to me “And that’s a thought.”  When I would come to him with all these thoughts that seemed so important and it would stun me momentarily.  Sometimes I would wonder how he could say that to the important information that was going to impact my life and the lives around me and he could be so calm and although he would listen to my plight, he would eventually again point to me and say “And that’s a thought too.”  And he would smile and I would frown and stomp away wondering “what have I done wrong that I don’t see” (not seeing that that was just a thought too). 

He did this for many years, I would come to him again and again with problem after problem and in his infinite patience, he would listen or he would do whatever the moment called for which sometimes was a scolding or a praise, there was not a time, even to this day that I could predict what he would/will do, but that is another of His Great Teachings.  Many times I would go thinking I would get a praising, only to hear I had done something wrong, and then other times thinking I would get the scolding of my life, only to find him praising me for something I had done.  This over time became the blessed teaching of “not knowing.”  

Which leads to the title of today “Thinking.”  Thinking is knowing, even if you don’t know ... you think you can know by thinking.  But thinking is not real…it is not part of reality.  See these words come on the screen by the fingers not by thinking.  This is not always easy for one to see, for like I shared above, I knocked on my Teachers door with question after question and problem after problem, until one day the draw to Stillness became the Answer.  Even in moments now there is “thinking” and there is thinking that there was/is an answer and there is …but the answer is in Stillness/Silence. 

Now that can be even more infuriating to the mind that wishes to know reasons and answers for all things … to hear that they are all answered in Stillness, is to negate the “mind/thoughts.”  Again it all boils down to a frown or a smile, sometimes even a laugh or a punch in the face…depends on how serious one is in knowing answers. 

Since life is just happening and all you get to do is watch it, then living with unanswered questions is actually the gift.  To let things be as they are and watch as them appear is the gift and the answers do come, not in your time or your way, but naturally they appear.  Recently, a Friend of mine said she stays informed on my life through the writings I send her, and I wrote that I was annoyed because how do I stay informed on her life when I don’t receive any writings from her.  Then lo’ and behold, she appears on the street the very next day sharing with me what is going on in her life.  (((Smiles)))

Be willing to be surprised.  I know sometimes it doesn’t seem easy to do … especially since the thoughts usually say you know what is going to happen and it’s not going to be good.  But see how silly it is to think that you know the answer and that the answer “isn’t going to be good” wouldn’t it just be better to wait and see ... if the alternative is shitty anyway :o)

All you have to do is look at that your life has worked out perfectly this far, you are reading this right now and all is well right :o)  Even if you are thinking it is not LOL!

ILLUSION

(Click here or on Picture for more on Richard Bach)

The following Essay was written this morning for my Philosophy class at COS.  It is in response to the following question:  "Indian philosophy is often denigrated in the West as being "Illusionist," that is, as dismissing the reality of this world, and thus having a world-negating, other-worldly orientation.  Based on the readings, is this an accurate assessment of Indian religion and philosophy?  Explain why or why not."  It seemed appropriate to put it here and since the time that is usually used to write the NTL Tidbit, was used to write an Essay for class... it serves for that :o))))

Illusionist

India philosophy is often denigrated in the West because the West’s mentality depends on material and physical form and senses and to not denigrate the awareness of the world being an “illusion” would make every belief and everything they do and work for meaningless (to those that would wish to keep it real).    But just because you want to keep something real, doesn’t make it real. 

You have awoken from a dream at night and it can seem so absolutely real, more real than the reality you are in right now, but shortly there after it fades away and there is nothing you can do to keep it.  This is how it is in reality.  Just like all the dream characters fade when you wake, including “you” (just like the “you” that you dreamt last night, everything you currently “think” you are, when this “dream/illusion” is woken from will fade). 

The thing that scares most, is that they do not know who is Dreaming.  They have believed they are the identity (an accumulation of ideas, opinions and beliefs accumulated since birth) and in keeping the focus on the the identity, do not realize that they are not the identity but what the identity is In.  This is Truly one of the Great gifts of those that experience “paranoia” because they are forced to know that they are always being watched.  If they are lucky they begin to relax and allow that they are being watched and then may even begin to question, “who is watching?”  This is probably where they idea of Santa Claus came from, because we are always truly being watched, and it is by the Silent Witness, that is You.  Like it says in the book, “you are not afraid when you are alone in the dark of being alone in the dark, you are afraid of who might be there with you.”  Once you realize that you are all alone, completely alone, who is there to be afraid of?  All that is left is the discovery of who is There, yourSelf.  However, this is where a Teacher or Guru is invaluable in your discovery because they will continue to point you away from the personality and towards the Truth of who you Are (a personality that believes it is god is and becomes more and more insane, there is only One without a second.)

You are watching you (yet it is all one, no separation), how funny that one would become paranoid of itSelf (but don’t laugh a someone that is paranoid, it will only scare them more), this whole world seems to be in a sort of mass paranoia because everyone thinks (seemingly) that they are doing it, that they are the one in control and they are doing something wrong and have to get better.  The good news is you can’t do anything wrong in a dream/illusion.  Some may say “oh that just means that people will steal and kill and rape and maim.”  Well, you are in a Dream … are you stealing, killing, raping and maiming?  See, those are just stories to keep one from discovering who they Are.  And if you are, knock it off and begin to see who it is that you are killing, raping, maiming and stealing from. :o)

One cannot think oneSelf back to who one Is.  In one sense, there needs to be a bit of Faith/Willingess that they are being led, because the tools one would use to discover who they Are, are useless in this domain.  The mind cannot help you to know what you are In, but it can be used to being to point you towards it.  It can be used to relax you into giving up the beliefs that say it is not possible.  It can calm you from your fears of the miraculous.  But it comes, in a sense, from unlearning what you know.  You know too much, and it is like a prison around you  (the identity) keeping the world real. 

Does it matter if you keep the world real, no, ultimately it does not, but you would not be reading this if you were not ready to begin to let go of some of those blocks around the prison that is you (identity).  As they fall away (which will come naturally), you will begin to see what you have always been IN.  This is what the Indian culture points too, and all religions will point to it also once one has seen it for oneSelf.  Once you See it, it is Known and then all things including yourself (who you think you are), begin to point towards it.

What you see in front of you right now as you read this, is just a projection on the Light (there is no word that will describe this, though words are used to point the mind in the direction of comprehending the uncomprehend-able).  What is before you is a projection onto the Light that is You.  The only thing that can happen in a dream is that you are paying attention to the projection and not what you are projected On.  What you are projected on, is not in the Dream/Illusion, the Dream/Illusion is in It (but it is not an “it”).  

When you go to the movies, you pay attention to what is projected onto the screen and you forget that the screen is there, but without the screen you would not be watching the movie.  It is the same in what we call “reality.”  As the mind (who you think you are) weakens its stance that that is not true, you will begin to see “cracks” in the Dream/Illusion of Light.  The Light will begin to shine through the “you” who “think” you are.  Though even if this does not ever happen, you can begin to relax and “Know” that it is True, and you know it because you KNOW it, because you ARE it.  Not because I or anyone else told it too you, but because you are It and the only thing you are ever capable of doing is denying it.  So the question is … are you in service to True Reality or the dream/illusion?   As you become more in Tune with yourSelf, you will rely more and more on True Realty, the Light in You that has lead you always.

If you should have a “break” in Reality, that frightens you, because it cannot be understood by the mind, know that someone else (apparently) has also had that experience and that it really is the most amazing Gift one can receive in this life, to Know that the world/universe is not real and yet gets to experience it fully.  Once all the trying to understand what one will not ever understand is not held so tightly too … you will smile a lot more and will understand a lot less.  And may see in the eyes of others that they also know, because they have smiling eyes too … even if outwardly you don’t see a smile, you will see it in their eyes because they are still playing their part, the actors still plays their roles, they are just aware that they are not the role.

Works Cited

The Best Guide to Eastern Philogophy and Religion, Diane Morgan.