“Death”: A concept dreamed up by persons to label inaccurately the happening when something they thought they were observing is no longer observable. A concept dreamed up by persons who also believe that they (or others) have “created something” and “given birth to something” when elements simply combined in a process that happened automatically after an act of friction. In fact, what they thought they were seeing—regarding both “birth” and “death” and the “disappearance of other persons”—is not what was happening at all in reality. [Two examples: (a) Have you ever thought you really knew certain persons, only to find out that they were each showing the world a phony image and that image was not them at all? (b) Look at a steel beam with the naked eye, and then look at it with an electron microscope that allows you to see “below the surface” and see what’s happening at an atomic level. The beam initially appeared to be one thing to you, but upon further investigation you can realize that it was not what it appeared to be at all.] Since nothing is created, nothing can be destroyed. Following the unmanifestation of the consciousness, the elements of a “human body” will return to dust; the breath shall return to the pool of universal air; the consciousness shall return to the pool of universal consciousness at rest. Nothing died in that process. All perceived forms merely returned to their original “state.” The only thing that can be said to die (that is, that can be “given up”) is the assumption that roles and appearances are real. To allow each belief in an ego-state to dissolve might be called “the death of ego” or “the end of belief in a false identity,” but the identity was only imagined anyway, so no ego-state really dies either. All that is imagined or dreamed up by persons is false, a result of misunderstanding, programming, and not seeing clearly, as happens with the snake in a rope. “Snake in a rope” will be discussed in an upcoming post.]
Knowing the Unification/The Great Union—I AM THAT I AM: The Realized understand that the "I Am” and the “I Am THAT” are “not two.” The “I Am” is the expression of manifested consciousness while “THAT” is the consciousness not manifested or at-rest. Some speak of “The Great Union” to point to that unification. Others speak of the manifest and unmanifest “at the borderline,” but THAT is beyond both the “beingness” and the “non-beingness” (that is, beyond any “self-ness” or “Selfness”).
True Self: Pure Consciousness, manifested; the Pure Witness, aware of Reality and the Oneness. Some teachers used the term to refer to "THAT," but the use inspires many Advaita students to assume that a "self" or "Self" or "Supreme Self" with "some kind of form" will remain post-manifestation.
self: (note the lower case “s”): The false self. Persons take the body to be the True Self when it is merely the false self. Beyond that physical aspect, the false self/selves also have a mental aspect since, in the “mind” of persons, the roles they assume as false identities also define “their self” or “who they think they are.” The (false) self can also be referred to as the persona, the person, the personality, the ego-states, the roles, or the false identities. The false self is the false identity that results in persons being trapped in memories, timelines, ideas, emotions, beliefs, dogma, ritual, the misery of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, etc. The false self is so dominated by ego that it will believe in “others” and “others that are not as good as me” or “others that just aren’t good enough.” Those who have reached the third level of the “journey” to reality will claim that being religious or spiritual has given them humility to replace their ego, but “the religious person” or “the spiritual person” are merely two additional ego-states: the religious persona or the spiritual persona. Both, as with all ego-states, ultimately inspire persons to behave in a manner that “separates” them from all who they claim are not as “good” as they are, who do not believe what they believe, who do not behave as they behave, who refuse to accept their dogma or ideology, or who do not think as they think. Freed of all ego-states, no persona remains to think or judge or reject or believe that any can be “separate” from “others.” Knowing the Oneness ends the delusional belief in separation and eliminates all the judgments and beliefs and thoughts that personas imagine to be true. Belief that the false self/an ego-state is a true identity is always accompanied by arrogance and ego to defend the role’s image and to fight to give a sense of credibility to the false identity. That arrogance/ego generates self-consciousness (and prevents Self-Consciousness). In the relative existence, ego also inspires self-seeking; self-glorification; self-aggrandizement; self-centeredness; self-deception; self-destruction; self-indulgence; self-interest; self-will; and self-absorption. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
Knowing the Unification/The Great Union—I AM THAT I AM: The Realized understand that the "I Am” and the “I Am THAT” are “not two.” The “I Am” is the expression of manifested consciousness while “THAT” is the consciousness not manifested or at-rest. Some speak of “The Great Union” to point to that unification. Others speak of the manifest and unmanifest “at the borderline,” but THAT is beyond both the “beingness” and the “non-beingness” (that is, beyond any “self-ness” or “Selfness”).
True Self: Pure Consciousness, manifested; the Pure Witness, aware of Reality and the Oneness. Some teachers used the term to refer to "THAT," but the use inspires many Advaita students to assume that a "self" or "Self" or "Supreme Self" with "some kind of form" will remain post-manifestation.
self: (note the lower case “s”): The false self. Persons take the body to be the True Self when it is merely the false self. Beyond that physical aspect, the false self/selves also have a mental aspect since, in the “mind” of persons, the roles they assume as false identities also define “their self” or “who they think they are.” The (false) self can also be referred to as the persona, the person, the personality, the ego-states, the roles, or the false identities. The false self is the false identity that results in persons being trapped in memories, timelines, ideas, emotions, beliefs, dogma, ritual, the misery of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, etc. The false self is so dominated by ego that it will believe in “others” and “others that are not as good as me” or “others that just aren’t good enough.” Those who have reached the third level of the “journey” to reality will claim that being religious or spiritual has given them humility to replace their ego, but “the religious person” or “the spiritual person” are merely two additional ego-states: the religious persona or the spiritual persona. Both, as with all ego-states, ultimately inspire persons to behave in a manner that “separates” them from all who they claim are not as “good” as they are, who do not believe what they believe, who do not behave as they behave, who refuse to accept their dogma or ideology, or who do not think as they think. Freed of all ego-states, no persona remains to think or judge or reject or believe that any can be “separate” from “others.” Knowing the Oneness ends the delusional belief in separation and eliminates all the judgments and beliefs and thoughts that personas imagine to be true. Belief that the false self/an ego-state is a true identity is always accompanied by arrogance and ego to defend the role’s image and to fight to give a sense of credibility to the false identity. That arrogance/ego generates self-consciousness (and prevents Self-Consciousness). In the relative existence, ego also inspires self-seeking; self-glorification; self-aggrandizement; self-centeredness; self-deception; self-destruction; self-indulgence; self-interest; self-will; and self-absorption. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
