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FROM A SITE VISITOR: Any tips for somebody who is pretty new to Advaita Vedanta? Trying to wrap my mind around the idea of dissolving that some of you are talking about is boggling Thank you
F.: If you searched the blog this week and read some postings on “the body” as suggested, then you might be moving toward some degree of understanding that whatever You are is something other than a physical body…other than any gathering of physical elements that currently appear to be a particular space or form. You should be sensing that there is some “substance” beyond “form,” that there is something more than the eye can see.
[For purposes of a discussion now centering on (1) differentiating between what you are not and What You Are and on (2) understanding that whatever You Are is beyond what can be viewed by the naked eye, then that which is beyond form can be called “the Real You” at the point where you are on the “path” right now.]
If you are asked, “Would You still be You even if You lost both arms and legs?” and if the answer is most assuredly “Yes, I would still be
(A) it is not the body that is answering a question about the body; (B) it is something else that is witnessing from "a distance" and viewing the armless and legless torso and concluding, "Yes, I would still be Me. I can look at that body and see the missing arms and legs and sense that I Am still whatever I Am."
(If your answer was “No, I would no longer be me,” then the readiness is not present for these teachings. The attachment to body and to body identification is far too great to move along the “path.” Until there is a shift in understanding the most basis pointer that provides an opportunity for you to witness from some distance that whatever You Are would still be that—even if the body is armless and legless—then the readiness is not present.)
Other seekers might see that something is obviously aware of the fact that it would still be ItSelf even if 50% of a body's parts are missing. They might see that whatever is providing the answer that "I would still be MySelf, even without arms and legs attached to a physical body," whatever that is that can draw that conclusion has to be beyond the body…has to be something other than the body.
So what is aware of that fact? [Hint: it is neither "the brain" nor "the mind."] The only thing that makes awareness possible during this relative manifestation is consciousness, a specialized form of energy that has as an attribute the capability of "conscious-of-ness" if manifested in some space with a nervous system (be that flora or fauna).
You—which can be taken to be "the consciousness" for now—are aware that You (the temporarily manifested consciousness) are not the body…are something beyond that limited and finite and temporary "coming together" of elements.
If you do not understand that, sit with the above pointers until the understanding comes…or not. Some are truly ready for the understanding and the subsequent freedom that comes with Realization but most are not. So it is.
Next, if you see that whatever You Are is not the body, then the next step is to see that You Are also not the mind. Here are two e-mails received recently:
FROM A SITE VISITOR: I am reminded once again of the fragility of memory. I begin to wonder if anything is “true” even in the relative world. [F.: About time, yes?] Besides the fact that we see each event from different perspectives, we seldom really remember the actual event. We create it from what we think happened, wish happened, or what people told us happened. You know that.
ALSO: Perusing my bookshelf last night...chanced upon your “No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” booklet. It covered some material I am always asking about; maybe should have read the book closely when I got it. Seems that evolution makes it inevitable that our minds begin accumulating “facts” that you have to learn and unlearn. I did gain a new insight. I've always been troubled with this idea that we project our own world. But, if that thought is looked at not in a “real” sense of actually creating a physical world that operates in its own dimension, so to speak, but as a world that is unique because of my interpretations based on my unique mind, then I can see where we would all actually have our own world.
The Reply: Yes. There are as many conceptualizations about what “the world” is as there are persons “looking at it” and, of course, misperceiving it all. That is why you are not in the world, and that is why the world is "in" you. As mentioned, if you look at what is called “a steel beam” with an electron microscope, you see that it is neither steel nor a beam and that what it really is is not even close to its appearance.
Via the electron microscope is seen the substance beyond the (always) misperceived form. Similarly, via Realization, what is seen is also the “substance” beyond the form. So, to Kent or any other “newcomers,” the suggestion for you now is this:
Consider that which you call “your mind” and see what it really is. What does it contain? How did those contents come to be there? Do you really believe that you have ever independently come up with even one totally original thought or idea or concept or belief on your own?
If not, where did you get those thoughts and ideas and concepts and beliefs? And where did the source that passed those on to you come up with them? How many of them can be unequivocally proved to be true or factual or beyond question? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
FOR AN IN-DEPTH TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT:
