FROM SITE VISITOR GINNY: Still another question, Floyd. I have trouble getting past; "I am" ...."human". The deer does not say "I am deer", But I say, or am left with, I am human and harbor feelings and emotions despite my best efforts living in this condition. How do you get around that concept?
FROM SITE VISITOR RONALD: Advaita is new to me. Can you clarify the I AM that I see discussed on a lot of the sites?
F.: The only “I” that is real and that can talk is the pure consciousness (or the re-purified consciousness). If the word “I” is written or spoken to suggest that anything other than the consciousness is speaking, then Realization has not happened and one is trapped within the first three levels of a seven-step "journey" to Realization.
FROM SITE VISITOR RONALD: Advaita is new to me. Can you clarify the I AM that I see discussed on a lot of the sites?
F.: The only “I” that is real and that can talk is the pure consciousness (or the re-purified consciousness). If the word “I” is written or spoken to suggest that anything other than the consciousness is speaking, then Realization has not happened and one is trapped within the first three levels of a seven-step "journey" to Realization.
If persons speak about “my life,” or if they believe in something like “the history of ginny,” then they have failed to see that they are discussing “a fable agreed upon” by one or more persons identifying with "their humanity" rather than with the cycling consciousness. With perceptions being so far removed from Reality, who would presume to believe that “I and others can agree that my fable is true”?
Next, for you to be “a ginny/human,” some sort of body and mind and personality continuity would have had to exist for whatever number of years your culture has assigned to you, but no such continuity has happened.
The same body/elements that were thought yesterday to be “ginny” are no longer in combination today. There has been no body continuity whatsoever as would have been required for the "human" label to be true, as discussed in a May ’06 posting:
The human body is constantly replacing and regenerating cells to maintain proper and efficient function. (If you spend ten minutes reading this post and considering the content, during that time you will have shed 250,000 skin cells and those will have been replaced by 250,000 different cells. Not one cell of the billions of skin cells that came about during the last twenty-eight days is now present.) There has never been one body with continuity, and there will never be a body with continuity (whether talking about pre-manifestation, manifestation or post-manifestation).
So much for body continuity. Secondly, there has been no “mind” continuity, that storehouse of ideas and beliefs having been in constant flux. How many things that you "loved" in the past mean nothing to you now? You "changed your mind"? No. The "mind" is constantly changing since it is a storehouse of lies and beliefs and attitudes, and new ideas and concepts are being added regularly. Thus, that speck of consciousness which calls itself "a seeker" might be aware of reality today but can be totally out of touch with reality tomorrow because abidance as the unchanging Absolute is not happening.
Thirdly, there has certainly been no continuity of personality. Some identities you assumed ten years ago, you do not assume today, and those roles you are assuming and playing today, you will not assume and play in "the future." Further, any labels that you accepted years ago (including "human") but have not subsequently questioned and rejected will be a part of that mass of lies that blocks the light of truth. The deer, by contrast, doesn't have to question and reject the label "deer" because the deer is not communicating with, and being influenced by, persons who are totally out of touch with reality.
Next, for you to be “a ginny/human,” some sort of body and mind and personality continuity would have had to exist for whatever number of years your culture has assigned to you, but no such continuity has happened.
The same body/elements that were thought yesterday to be “ginny” are no longer in combination today. There has been no body continuity whatsoever as would have been required for the "human" label to be true, as discussed in a May ’06 posting:
The human body is constantly replacing and regenerating cells to maintain proper and efficient function. (If you spend ten minutes reading this post and considering the content, during that time you will have shed 250,000 skin cells and those will have been replaced by 250,000 different cells. Not one cell of the billions of skin cells that came about during the last twenty-eight days is now present.) There has never been one body with continuity, and there will never be a body with continuity (whether talking about pre-manifestation, manifestation or post-manifestation).
So much for body continuity. Secondly, there has been no “mind” continuity, that storehouse of ideas and beliefs having been in constant flux. How many things that you "loved" in the past mean nothing to you now? You "changed your mind"? No. The "mind" is constantly changing since it is a storehouse of lies and beliefs and attitudes, and new ideas and concepts are being added regularly. Thus, that speck of consciousness which calls itself "a seeker" might be aware of reality today but can be totally out of touch with reality tomorrow because abidance as the unchanging Absolute is not happening.
Thirdly, there has certainly been no continuity of personality. Some identities you assumed ten years ago, you do not assume today, and those roles you are assuming and playing today, you will not assume and play in "the future." Further, any labels that you accepted years ago (including "human") but have not subsequently questioned and rejected will be a part of that mass of lies that blocks the light of truth. The deer, by contrast, doesn't have to question and reject the label "deer" because the deer is not communicating with, and being influenced by, persons who are totally out of touch with reality.
So, with no continuity of body or mind or personality, how could you be "human" if all that is used by the non-Realized to define "what a human is" has never "existed" for more than a micro-second at a time and has only "existed" in the faulty perception of persons anyway? Only that which is real is unchanging. Only THAT is continuous. The "I-Amness" or "Is-ness" or "beingness" is not continuous, and the "I" (as used among the non-Realized) never was and never has been.
Thus, the suggestion for both visitors who wrote, along with any others using the first person, singular, nominative case (subject) pronoun “I”, is this: never, ever use that word unless the intent is that (without a shadow of a doubt) the “I” refers to the conscious-energy. If you “slip” and use "I" to suggest than anything other than the consciousness is speaking, become aware of that slip immediately and shift away from the bogus use of “I.”
The "I" can never accurately refer to anything dealing with the phenomenal. In the case of a "slip," allow the Self to remind itSelf that “I” deals only with the Noumenon. That is one way to begin shifting away from identification with body-mind-personality and to begin rejecting all labels and all identification with anything other than the manifested consciousness or the Absolute. Any use that does not conform to that standard results in a statement that is a lie, as illustrated via these examples:
TRUE: I, the consciousness, have temporarily manifested in a space with a nervous system.
FALSE: I was born and I am a human.
TRUE: I have witnessed the formation of this universe and all universes.
FALSE: I hope I don’t lose my job.
TRUE: I AM THAT which is and always has been.
FALSE: I got married and became a wife/husband last weekend.
TRUE: As a form of energy, I cannot be destroyed.
FALSE: I have been saved by the grace of the god of Abraham whose words were transmitted by the prophet Moses (or the prophet Christ or the prophet Mohammed or by…whomever) and I shall resurrect and live in paradise with that god forever.
CAN BE TRUE: This speck of consciousness is presently witnessing “husbanding” or “wifing” as it happens.
CANNOT BE TRUE: I am married, so my spouse and I shall resurrect some day and will be reunited in heaven and shall spend eternity together (which some others might actually call "hell").
TRUE: I Am a speck of energy which has as an attribute the ability to be conscious of while manifested temporarily, and the type of energy that I Am is cycling via a temporary, ever-changing elemental space as a result of the consumption of plant food (or the consumption of plant food eaters).
FALSE: I am a person, a human.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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Click THE ESSENCE OF THE TEACHINGS
TRUE: I, the consciousness, have temporarily manifested in a space with a nervous system.
FALSE: I was born and I am a human.
TRUE: I have witnessed the formation of this universe and all universes.
FALSE: I hope I don’t lose my job.
TRUE: I AM THAT which is and always has been.
FALSE: I got married and became a wife/husband last weekend.
TRUE: As a form of energy, I cannot be destroyed.
FALSE: I have been saved by the grace of the god of Abraham whose words were transmitted by the prophet Moses (or the prophet Christ or the prophet Mohammed or by…whomever) and I shall resurrect and live in paradise with that god forever.
CAN BE TRUE: This speck of consciousness is presently witnessing “husbanding” or “wifing” as it happens.
CANNOT BE TRUE: I am married, so my spouse and I shall resurrect some day and will be reunited in heaven and shall spend eternity together (which some others might actually call "hell").
TRUE: I Am a speck of energy which has as an attribute the ability to be conscious of while manifested temporarily, and the type of energy that I Am is cycling via a temporary, ever-changing elemental space as a result of the consumption of plant food (or the consumption of plant food eaters).
FALSE: I am a person, a human.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/READINGS ABOUT THIS POST:
