Excerpts from RICH in Kalamazoo, MI, USA: "Something [unpleasant] happened a few weeks back and although physically in the midst of it, it didn't involve 'rich.' As it was occurring, I sat in the very midst of it, totally at peace. At first, it was so 'un-belief-able' that I looked deeper to find evidence of some emotion. There was nothing. The event culminated with an entire subculture split apart in the mental jail of good vs. bad, right vs. wrong. It is clear, given the circumstances, everyone did what they had to do; they had no choice. They still do what they have to do, believing they are 'choosing' what they do. This is so new, different. I don’t have to leave-to get away from all this chaos…nor do I have to be involved (ensnared, entangled) in it. It’s like a magnet has been removed. There is no polarity of attraction, no polarity of repulsion. I see that 'rich' had gone through this thing we call life, thinking he was making choices. Now, looking back, I cannot find where 'rich' did anything from 'choice.' Not once. Where would I be right now if not for this awareness? Lost in the beliefs…thinking I was someone. Thinking I had decisions to make, carefully weighing the options, and having conversations in the mind with an imaginary deity, to be sure to do the 'next right thing.' And so on. 'rich' does what 'rich' does. With no judgment of 'others,' there is no need to forgive. With no judgment of self, shame dissolves. i remember being afraid that if all the stage characters were removed there would be no one left. That which i feared has come upon me. No one is left. The thing about Advaita: IT MAKES SENSE. It's really not that complicated: just let go of non-sense. However, though the understanding is there (that this is illusion) it hasn't been [totally dismissed], so occasionally, there is an 'i' experiencing something. It isn't the real so it fades away. What's up? Residual ego?"
1. What is happening? The shift to simplification and away from complication is continuing. For some it's a process; for some it's instantaneous. Whichever is irrelevant. The basic understanding has been received. Less and less, emotions by ego-states that trigger reactions and attachment will happen. Feelings will happen, but they will rise and fall as no reactions are triggered and they are merely witnessed. Less and less, an "actor" or "action-taker" or “do-er” will appear, and more and more often the mere witnessing will happen. Thus, what you just described. But understand that even those spaces called jnanis that were Fully Realized admitted that on occasion, as free of concepts and as free of qualities as they were, occasionally some evidence surfaced of some dregs or particles of those former illusions, particles that are stored at some cellular level or that are remnants of attributes that were rooted in the gunas... those tendencies acquired genetically and chemically at birth. Yet what is your more typical state? It seems to be a state in which the customary position is one of being rather than one of being this or being that. It seems to be one that more often is happening without any interference from illusory concepts. It seems to be one in which the prevailing state is one that is without attributes.
Avoid dissecting a dreg or particle of impure consciousness (which was corrupted as a result of programming or conditioning) if it appears momentarily. The purified consciousness is of such mass that some brief surfacing of a dreg of impure consciousness is like a speck of dirt flicked from a finger into the ocean. (Remember, too, that everyone who has ever been called a “sage” or “jnani” went through the process early on whereby the consciousness was bastardized. They, too, had to complete all seven steps of the “journey” in order to release the learned ignorance they were taught and to grasp what they had always known intuitively, internally, but had forgotten because of the corrupting effects that enculturation has on the manifested consciousness. To read the transcripts collected in the book I Am That reveals so much less than reading the last talks of Maharaj. Realization came instantly, but one who reads all of his words can see that a shift happened over a period of time as the consciousness became more and more pure and as the firm fixation into the Absolute happened in stages.) For now, focus on this: is it a fact that You Are THAT Which Is infinite? If so, is it obvious that the more aware You become of THAT, the less effect the finite will have on any AS IF existence that is happening spontaneously with the space in which You the Consciousness are manifest? Continue to focus on the I AM and discard any remaining lies that involve I am this or I am that. As the WHO's (those "residuals" of former ego-states) disappear, the view of THAT becomes clearer and clearer. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
