FROM A SITE VISITOR: I finally understand your pointer that even if arms and legs and organs are ‘lost’ I Am still Me. But now, how to be free of my racing mind, once and for all?
F.: (Continued from yesterday) So, Realization can never happen if seekers believe that the proper methodology is comparable to tossing their concepts into a mortar and then using the “mind” like a pestle to pulverize and grind away the ideas and concepts that block access to the pure consciousness.
The effective methodology is actually comparable to the scenario described in a typical analogy in which someone walks into a dimly-lit room, sees a rope coiled in a corner, mistakes it for a snake that is coiled and ready to strike, and experiences tremendous fear as a result of witnessing in error and as a result of a false belief.
As in the pharmaceutical analogy, nothing needs to be pulverized or ground away. There is no need to destroy the rope in order to be free of delusion and the accompanying fear. All that is needed is the light, which in turn allows for clear and accurate witnessing.
If someone else brings a light into the room and shines it upon the rope, then the rope can be seen for what it is. The role of the Advaitin teacher is to bring the light and to point out to seekers that their mistaken perceptions are not reality.
Then, the mistaken beliefs that were generating a state of emotional intoxication can end, along with living under the influence of fear and delusion and chaos and misconceptions.
Thus, another example is available, via the snake-rope misunderstanding, which shows that the “mind” plays a central role in self-deception and misunderstandings. The “mind” perpetuates the darkness that allows misconceptions to continue to be taken as truth;
therefore, neither the addition of more concepts into the “mind,” or the use of concepts that are already present in the “mind,” can provide the light that is required to remove erroneous beliefs and false impressions.
Ultimately, if the light is shined upon the misconceptions, they are removed and then the pure consciousness is allowed to function naturally. It is that pure consciousness which witnesses accurately, first on the level of subject-object witnessing and then later on the Pure Witnessing (True Self) level.
That is the only methodology that can work. The rope cannot be seen to be a rope until the light comes. Any darkness that remains, that is, any of the “mind’s” cherished concepts or sacred cows that are clung to, will perpetuate distortion and deception and misunderstanding and will prevent the witnessing of Reality.
Yet even when the light comes, most will still not see. Upon arising and looking out the windows toward the lake this morning before sunrise, neither the water nor the lights that are usually seen in the homes across the water were visible because of a heavy fog.
Now, even though the light has come, neither the lake nor the houses nor the forest across the way can be seen, much less all that is beyond the lake on the other side. The light has come, but the fog remains. So it is when most hear these Advaita teachings.
Even with the light, the fog continues to block from view all that is beyond. Similarly, the content of the “mind” blocks the view of the pure witnessing consciousness, and that "mind" content is considered by persons to be so valuable that it will seldom be cast aside in order that clear seeing might happen.
Ego-states, and their accompanying egotism, will almost always inspire persons to loathe the light and to revere their fog. So it is. Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued on Friday)
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