From a site visitor: Why do you say that only “abiding as the Abolute” can bring peace. I read that peace comes if you focus on the “I Am.”
[Note: the sharing today is for those protégés at the later steps of the “journey.” These pointers which are relevant for the few at that “advanced stage” will not, and need not, align with pointers offered to protégés at other points.]
F.: That’s a legitimate query because both teachings have their place for proteges at varying steps along the “journey.” (If you are not familiar with the terms “wet charcoal, dry charcoal, and gunpowder,” use the search engine at the top of this page to research this site for an explanation of those first.) The wet charcoal must dry out and then become as gunpowder if Full Realization is to explode inrto consciousness. That said, a child must crawl before it walks; similarly, a protégé must focus on the I AM before abiding as the Absolute. Yet focusing as wholeheartedly on the I AM as you might can only provide a temporary respite from the insanity and misery and suffering that persons are experiencing (or which they will be experiencing if they currently are not.)
To focus on the I-Amness is to ignore the fact that the very beingness itself is the initial source of physical pain and mental-emotional despair. Prior to the beingness, no problems existed. Prior to the manifestation, there were no troubles, no dilemmas, no crises. No predicaments were faced, no losses were imagined. There were no relative existence quandaries, no advances, no setbacks. There were neither feelings to witness as they constantly rise and fall, and there was no emotional intoxication to suffer. Physical ailments did not happen, mental illnesses did not happen, financial problems did not happen, struggles with the vicissitudes of nature did not happen.
[Note: the sharing today is for those protégés at the later steps of the “journey.” These pointers which are relevant for the few at that “advanced stage” will not, and need not, align with pointers offered to protégés at other points.]
F.: That’s a legitimate query because both teachings have their place for proteges at varying steps along the “journey.” (If you are not familiar with the terms “wet charcoal, dry charcoal, and gunpowder,” use the search engine at the top of this page to research this site for an explanation of those first.) The wet charcoal must dry out and then become as gunpowder if Full Realization is to explode inrto consciousness. That said, a child must crawl before it walks; similarly, a protégé must focus on the I AM before abiding as the Absolute. Yet focusing as wholeheartedly on the I AM as you might can only provide a temporary respite from the insanity and misery and suffering that persons are experiencing (or which they will be experiencing if they currently are not.)
To focus on the I-Amness is to ignore the fact that the very beingness itself is the initial source of physical pain and mental-emotional despair. Prior to the beingness, no problems existed. Prior to the manifestation, there were no troubles, no dilemmas, no crises. No predicaments were faced, no losses were imagined. There were no relative existence quandaries, no advances, no setbacks. There were neither feelings to witness as they constantly rise and fall, and there was no emotional intoxication to suffer. Physical ailments did not happen, mental illnesses did not happen, financial problems did not happen, struggles with the vicissitudes of nature did not happen.
Wars, famine, genocide, murders, rapes, burglaries, and robberies did not happen. Trouble with personal relationships and addictions did not happen. The stresses of school and child-rearing and employment did not happen. The daily grind of 9-5 did not happen. Multi-hour commutes did not happen. Having to deal with incompetent people in businesses, and in city and state and federal governments, did not happen. Dealing with the preponderance of insanity in the community and "the world" did not happen. All of that came with the beingness.
While focusing for a time on the beingness, an undertaking that provides some relief from all the energy-draining doingness, the fact remains that some do-er has to exist to do that focusing, some do-er has to exist to undertake that undertaking, and some do-er has to exist to experience the beingness. Are you beginning to see the glitch? Persons experience misery because two other people experienced ecstasy. That set the stage for all of the dualities of the relative existence: one nation is miserable while their conquerers are seemingly estatic; one nationality is miserable as they starve while another is seemingly estatic in their obesity; one living in poverty is miserable as others are seemingly estatic as they squander their fortunes.
If one were to try to apply “an Advaita-based theory” (a contradiction in itself), then they could argue that fixation in the beingness should theoretically assure happiness, contentment, bliss…whatever. The fact, however, is this: though abiding as the I AM might result in less discontentment than abiding as one or more personas, even those abiding as the I-Amness cannot escape periods of dis-ease (even though no emotional intoxication is happening and even as feelings are merely witnessed as they rise and fall). It is the very nature of consciousnes—even the re-purified consciousness—to be aware of such. From the moment that the I-Amness happened to the moment it is no longer happening, feelings (and therefore certain miseries) will happen as well.
In October of ‘05, this pointer was offered:
Asleep you do not know you are. You are unconscious while asleep—not conscious of the fact that consciousness is still present in your body. But when at rest in the sleep state, the consciousness is still present, whether you’re aware of it or not.
Physically asleep, you do not remember the I-Amness, so perfect peace can manifest. Yet you cannot sustain that physical sleep state; therefore, once awake, You again become aware of the I-Amness. In that awareness, the level of peace that happened during sleep cannot remain. That peace can only happen during the waking state by transcending the Is-ness and abiding as the Absolute.
Does this devalue the step which requires abidance as the beingness? No. Just as the third step requires the adoption of a religious and/or spiritual persona that is eventually to be transcended in order to continue the “journey,” so abidance as the beingness must precede abidance as the Absolute. The beingness makes possible the awareness of the True Self, and that Pure Witnessing/Real Self stage makes possible the awareness of the Absolute. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
While focusing for a time on the beingness, an undertaking that provides some relief from all the energy-draining doingness, the fact remains that some do-er has to exist to do that focusing, some do-er has to exist to undertake that undertaking, and some do-er has to exist to experience the beingness. Are you beginning to see the glitch? Persons experience misery because two other people experienced ecstasy. That set the stage for all of the dualities of the relative existence: one nation is miserable while their conquerers are seemingly estatic; one nationality is miserable as they starve while another is seemingly estatic in their obesity; one living in poverty is miserable as others are seemingly estatic as they squander their fortunes.
If one were to try to apply “an Advaita-based theory” (a contradiction in itself), then they could argue that fixation in the beingness should theoretically assure happiness, contentment, bliss…whatever. The fact, however, is this: though abiding as the I AM might result in less discontentment than abiding as one or more personas, even those abiding as the I-Amness cannot escape periods of dis-ease (even though no emotional intoxication is happening and even as feelings are merely witnessed as they rise and fall). It is the very nature of consciousnes—even the re-purified consciousness—to be aware of such. From the moment that the I-Amness happened to the moment it is no longer happening, feelings (and therefore certain miseries) will happen as well.
In October of ‘05, this pointer was offered:
Asleep you do not know you are. You are unconscious while asleep—not conscious of the fact that consciousness is still present in your body. But when at rest in the sleep state, the consciousness is still present, whether you’re aware of it or not.
Physically asleep, you do not remember the I-Amness, so perfect peace can manifest. Yet you cannot sustain that physical sleep state; therefore, once awake, You again become aware of the I-Amness. In that awareness, the level of peace that happened during sleep cannot remain. That peace can only happen during the waking state by transcending the Is-ness and abiding as the Absolute.
Does this devalue the step which requires abidance as the beingness? No. Just as the third step requires the adoption of a religious and/or spiritual persona that is eventually to be transcended in order to continue the “journey,” so abidance as the beingness must precede abidance as the Absolute. The beingness makes possible the awareness of the True Self, and that Pure Witnessing/Real Self stage makes possible the awareness of the Absolute. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
