FROM A SITE VISITOR: Two questions: you mentioned AS IF living on Friday. What exactly does that entail? You also talk about giving up my attachments to those I care about. Why is that a requirement? It seems this is more about loss than about ordinary living. (Not trying to be argumentative--just wondering.) Please explain. Thank you. William
F.: Hello William. Your question was not taken to be argumentative. The topics of AS IF living and non-attachment have both been treated thoroughly on the site. Here’s how to search for past discussions of a topic, using AS living as an example:
1. In the white area at the top left of this page, next to the term SEARCH BLOG, type AS IF.
F.: Hello William. Your question was not taken to be argumentative. The topics of AS IF living and non-attachment have both been treated thoroughly on the site. Here’s how to search for past discussions of a topic, using AS living as an example:
1. In the white area at the top left of this page, next to the term SEARCH BLOG, type AS IF.
2. Click SEARCH BLOG.
3. Click EDIT at the top of the page.
4. Click FIND (on This Page) on the drop-down menu.
5. Next to “Find what:” re-type AS IF in that new window.
6. Click FIND NEXT. Each time you click it, you'll be taken down the page to the next instance where the word appeared in prior postings. The term will be highlighted.
Meanwhile, here are some pointers for consideration that describe what AS IF living is like, meaning, what the relative existence is like for the remainder of the manifestation of consciousness, post-Realization:
1. First, this IS all about loss if “loss” refers to the loss of false beliefs, false identities, false words, false fears, false desires, ad infinitum. Ultimately, it is found that there is neither loss nor gain. There is the beingness, the non-beingness, and that which is beyond both.
2. During the seven-step “journey” to Realization, a lessening of interest in things dealing with what you took to be “your world” will be witnessed. As protégés move farther away from the lies of their cultures and closer to the truth that can be understood but that cannot be stated, the consciousness becomes more and more purified. Understand that when the consciousness has been re-purified, one does not become an “unfeeling, uncaring robot” (to use the words of one visitor who took that to be the end result of Full Realization). In fact, an objective witness would have to conclude that he can detect no difference in the AS IF lifestyle of the Realized and anyone else that could be considered “ordinary” or “normal” or living in a completely natural fashion. The Realized feel but they witness feelings as they rise and fall instead of becoming trapped in a state of emotional intoxication and chain reactions induced by ego and its associated anger and fear.
3. As for your question regarding attachment/non-attachment: in the “Child Ignorance Stage,” that brief period in which the “Am-ness” was but was not known, you were attached to nothing. Thus, you were perfectly content so long as you were not hungry or wet. Once you came to know the “Am-ness,” you became attached to that “Am-ness.” Soon you became attached to persons. Later, you became attached to “your things.” Even later, you became attached to the beliefs that “they” taught you. Then you attached to those who shared your same beliefs. You eventually became so attached to “your” ideas and concepts that you became willing to fight over them. As for Me, My abidance is in that original state wherein I had no awareness of the “Am-ness” and thus no attachment to anything.
To live as naturally and as contentedly as a dry, well-fed baby, that original state of non-attachment must become your natural state. How? By returning to that state in which there was no self-consciousness (that is, when there was no consciousness of a false self or selves). When no “I-ness” was known, there was no attachment. Attachment only comes after knowledge of the false “I” comes and after ideas and concepts come. AS IF living is the type of living that happens post-Realization, marked by an absence of belief in any false self or in any concepts, all of which are also false.
Meanwhile, here are some pointers for consideration that describe what AS IF living is like, meaning, what the relative existence is like for the remainder of the manifestation of consciousness, post-Realization:
1. First, this IS all about loss if “loss” refers to the loss of false beliefs, false identities, false words, false fears, false desires, ad infinitum. Ultimately, it is found that there is neither loss nor gain. There is the beingness, the non-beingness, and that which is beyond both.
2. During the seven-step “journey” to Realization, a lessening of interest in things dealing with what you took to be “your world” will be witnessed. As protégés move farther away from the lies of their cultures and closer to the truth that can be understood but that cannot be stated, the consciousness becomes more and more purified. Understand that when the consciousness has been re-purified, one does not become an “unfeeling, uncaring robot” (to use the words of one visitor who took that to be the end result of Full Realization). In fact, an objective witness would have to conclude that he can detect no difference in the AS IF lifestyle of the Realized and anyone else that could be considered “ordinary” or “normal” or living in a completely natural fashion. The Realized feel but they witness feelings as they rise and fall instead of becoming trapped in a state of emotional intoxication and chain reactions induced by ego and its associated anger and fear.
3. As for your question regarding attachment/non-attachment: in the “Child Ignorance Stage,” that brief period in which the “Am-ness” was but was not known, you were attached to nothing. Thus, you were perfectly content so long as you were not hungry or wet. Once you came to know the “Am-ness,” you became attached to that “Am-ness.” Soon you became attached to persons. Later, you became attached to “your things.” Even later, you became attached to the beliefs that “they” taught you. Then you attached to those who shared your same beliefs. You eventually became so attached to “your” ideas and concepts that you became willing to fight over them. As for Me, My abidance is in that original state wherein I had no awareness of the “Am-ness” and thus no attachment to anything.
To live as naturally and as contentedly as a dry, well-fed baby, that original state of non-attachment must become your natural state. How? By returning to that state in which there was no self-consciousness (that is, when there was no consciousness of a false self or selves). When no “I-ness” was known, there was no attachment. Attachment only comes after knowledge of the false “I” comes and after ideas and concepts come. AS IF living is the type of living that happens post-Realization, marked by an absence of belief in any false self or in any concepts, all of which are also false.
[Note: Do not confuse "non-attachment" with what diagnosticians refer to as "Attachment Disorder." During the remainder of the manifestation, the Realized "care" because the unicity is known. Nothing happens "to one" that does not sumultaneously happen "to all"; however, only persons can suffer from "Attachment Disorder" because only persons are still trapped in personality and in all of the dysfunction that personality generates.]
4. The obstacle for those who are seeking and who seem to “get so close” to Realization but who cannot grasp the final understanding is this: persons are completely attached to their personas (and the false concepts that are used to support those false selves). The result of that attachment to concepts that support ego-states is this: if persons “get a glimpse” of their True Self or of their true state beyond, their desires and fears will pull them right back into a state of being attached to body and mind and personality. AS IF living is free of all of that since all body and “mind” and personality identities have been discarded.
4. The obstacle for those who are seeking and who seem to “get so close” to Realization but who cannot grasp the final understanding is this: persons are completely attached to their personas (and the false concepts that are used to support those false selves). The result of that attachment to concepts that support ego-states is this: if persons “get a glimpse” of their True Self or of their true state beyond, their desires and fears will pull them right back into a state of being attached to body and mind and personality. AS IF living is free of all of that since all body and “mind” and personality identities have been discarded.
Then, with personality having been discarded, that scourge of the relative existence called "The Narcissistic Personality Disorder" (which, historically, has been most pervasive in Anglo-Saxon cultures) cannot exist. And only in the absence of personality, and thus in the absence of that personality disorder called "narcissism" which inspires an attachment to false images, can the True Self be known and true peace happen.
For further explanations, you may now search for earlier postings on “AS IF living” by using the search instructions at the top of the page. Peace and Light. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
