SoonHei

Sages say, "The observer, observing, and observed are one." Where, in that, are you?

@erik8lrl xoxoxo

Don't judge someone just because they sin differently than you.

good job yaar!

@erik8lrl do you love me bro?

The Buddha talks with some Brahmins. SAMYUTTA NIKAYA. A certain Brahmin approached the Buddha and said, 'What's up, Buddha?' The Buddha said, 'What's up, Brahmin?' The Brahmin asked, 'Is the one who acts the same one who experiences the result?' The Buddha said, 'This idea that the one who acts is the same entity that experiences the result, is one side of it. It's just one of the extremes. The idea is the idea of a permanent entity.' The Brahmin said, 'Well, then, is the one who acts different from the one who experiences the results? Is the entity destroyed?' The Buddha said, 'That is the other extreme. I teach without veering toward either of the extreme views of eternalism (your first position) or destructionism (your second position). I teach the Dharma by the middle' And then another Brahmin came up to the Buddha and said hello. Then this Brahmin asked a question, 'Does all exist?' The Buddha responded, '"All exists' is the oldest cosmology.' The Brahmin said, 'Then, does all not exist?' The Buddha replied, 'This is the second oldest cosmology.' So, the Brahmin asked again, 'Then, is all a unity?' And the Buddha said, 'This is the third oldest cosmology.' The Brahmin asked, 'So, then, is all a plurality?' And the Buddha said, 'Annnnd, this is the fourth oldest cosmology. But I am not caught in any of these views. I show the way without veering toward any extreme view.' +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ So, from one moment to the next you are new, but there is continuation. You change. But, you are not destroyed. From moment to moment, day to day, year to year, life to life: continuation. You are not the same entity, but you are a continuum of action through three doors: thought, speech, physical action. And, the true true is beyond views. The views put forth by cosmologists will have their merits, some may be useful in certain contexts, but no view can capture the truth. "Everything truly exists" isn't quite right. "Nothing exists" also doesn't work. "All is one" ain't really true. And, "everything is separated, a plurality" is also wrong. And, even though these views are ultimately false, they can be conventionally useful-- skillfully employing various thoughts, words, and stories to help diverse beings in unique situations is what Bodhisattvas do, but they are not caught by the views of 'being', 'nonbeing', 'unity', 'plurality', or any other view. Not being caught up in any view, they are free to employ any view that may be useful at the time and place.

“LOVE SAYS, ‘I AM EVERYTHING.’ WISDOM SAYS , ‘I AM NOTHING.’ BETWEEN THE TWO MY LIFE FLOWS. SINCE AT ANY POINT OF TIME AND SPACE AND THE OBJECT OF EXPERIENCE, I EXPRESS IT BY SAYING THAT I AM BOTH, AND NEITHER, AND BEYOND BOTH.” ~Nisargadatta Maharaj, from his book “I Am That I Am” What did Nisargadatta Maharaj mean when he said, “Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two, my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both."? Published in 1973, Nisargadatta Maharaj’s book *I am That* became an instant modern spiritual classic. While there are a myriad of insights in this text, one of the most potent passages is when he explains to the aspirant, “*I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at, and experience the kind of consciousness it has; I become the inner witness of the thing. I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness, love; you may give it any name you like. Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two, my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both*.” While “Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing’. Between the two, my life flows” might make for a great spiritual bumper sticker, what is Maharaj trying to convey in this passage? In his typically uncompromising and pithy style, Nisargadatta has simultaneously lovingly railed home a powerful pointer and also attempted to articulate his experience of Self-Realization. So let’s begin to unpack that phrase. From the perspective of the mind, there are three stages of spiritual development. In the final analysis, there are no phases or stages of spiritual development, however for pedagogical purposes it is helpful to make a compassionate concession to the mind to illustrate the struggles and insights in order to guide the aspirant toward deeper understandings of the substance of experience. # 1. Shifting from “I-the body/mind to ‘the witness’ Our culture socializes us to believe that “I” am an individual person (subject) with a body and a mind; I stand separately and objectively a part from a universe filled with things (objects). Therefore, the popular understanding is duality (I am a subject; objects other than me exist). In order to disrupt the subject/object binary, it is important to draw the attention to the mind (thoughts), sensations (bodily), and perceptions (vision, tasting, touching, smelling, and hearing). Like a forensic scientist, carefully and thoroughly analyze the way in which the mind and sensations appear ***to you.*** Notice how you have never missed a thought nor have you every missed a sensation. You have been present and aware for every thought and every sensation. In other words, ***how can the body/mind be the subject*** **if they are appearing as the objects of experience?** Something is aware of the body/mind and world. This something is what we refer to as “I” or “I am” (use whatever resonates with you). What are the characteristics of this something? If this something had any characteristics it would be immediately perceivable by the mind, therefore it would be known or experienced. Anything conceivable or perceivable would be an appearance and could not be the subject; what we are trying to describe is the *experiencer.* While we cannot describe this “something” as anything in particular, we can say with the utmost certainty, is this “something” is aware and present. ***So, what “I am” is no-thing***, but I am undeniably present and aware. Taking this stand is taking the stand of “the witness”. When the realization of “the witness” sinks in, it is our experiential understanding and *feels like* we are a dimensionless camera witnessing a high-resolution movie or video game, wherein the character we assumed ourselves to be is now an appearing in “the screen”. This picture illustrates this point \[[link](https://imgur.com/a/1SMlpLZ)\] As “the witness” of experience, it becomes clear and obvious that “something” is present and aware of all experience and stand a apart from whatever happens. This is a helpful first step in the spiritual search **but it is dualistic**. Taking the stand as “the witness” is a milestone in the spiritual search (so to speak) because while it is a more accurate description of the substance of experience there is still a subject standing apart from “other things” (a world). \*\*\*An aside\*\*\* The internet has brought us remarkably wise sages with only a few pushes of the button. However, the internet has also brought a proliferation of well-intentioned teachers with an underdeveloped nondual understanding. Some well-intentioned teachers seem to be communicating that taking the stand as “the witness” is all that needs to be done and this is false. More on this later. Since “the witness” and “the world” is still duality, we must begin to explore much more deeply the subject of experience. What is this “I”? What is this “I am”? “Who am I?” “Am I aware?” use whatever phrase or question most closely resonates with you. Most people have their attention pointed outwards. Asking this question immediately draws the attention *inwards*. By *inwards* I don’t mean toward the body, *inwards* means toward the source of thought. This is the practice Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda Krishna Menon, and Nisargadatta Maharaj and others refer to as Self-inquiry. In the current nondual circles this term has been appropriated and misinterpreted. A more precise term could be Self-Abidance. What I mean by Self-Abidance is when the attention is pulled inwards, thoughts lose their fascinating quality, slow down, and begin to “dissolve” or “sink” back into the source. It takes a little bit of trial and error to notice this, but as you recognize the sinking and dissolving, “relax” or “fall into” the sensation. This is what Jaluadduin Rumi meant when he urged aspirants to “flow down, and down, and down, into every widening rings of Being”. As thoughts have less “inertia” to rise, the mind rests in its source. When the mind rests in its source, there is Self-abidance. Rupert Spira uses the metaphor of the dirty sock to describe the importance of Self-abidance. While reading blogs or podcasts may scrape away the chunks of dirt on the socks we wore when we were gardening in the backyard, simply running the socks through the wash machine are not enough. We need to soak the socks in warm water to dislodge the deeply embedded gunk. Not to go overboard on the metaphor, but Self-abidance works similarly because the amnesia of forgetting your true nature is so profound, it is important to devote as much energy as possible to sit and re-familiarize yourself with the Self. When the mind rests in its source, carefully notice that the “I”, that is present and aware, does not seem to be constricted by space or time, nor does it seem to be limited or owned by anyone. Put differently, this “I” is omnipresent (eternally present), omniscient (eternally knowing), and omnipotent (unaffected by experience). Naturally, the most rational question that arises is: **But how can “I” be aware of that “I”? What is aware of that “I”?** Something is present and aware of that “I”. If something is present and aware of that which is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipresent, that must also be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Therefore, that which is ***aware*** *and* ***present KNOWS ITSELF*** to be **aware** and **present.** **Awareness knows itself.** Awareness knows itself by simply Being itself. By Being itself Awareness knows itself. When Awareness knowingly knows itself this can be called an “awakening”. \*\*\*As an aside\*\*\* In many nondual circles, the term “enlightenment” is tossed around. It may be beneficial to avoid the entertaining the term because there are at least three or four layers of assumptions embedded within how the term is usually conveyed. It is at best disingenuous or at worst, flat out false, to pedal the term “enlightenment” given the assumptions and associations to potential aspirants. Using the term awakening is a much more precise description. While the awakening may trigger a release of energy and sensations of euphoria and lightness, “these too shall pass”. This is a popular “Red Herring” in the spiritual search. While this milestone may, on the face of it, seem like “the final understanding” there is still quite a bit of work left to do. Always remember the ultimate litmus test that Atmananda Krishna Menon put forth, ***“Self-Realization occurs when thoughts, feelings, and perceptions no longer take you away.”*** Put differently, if there is even the slightest bit of resistance to any thoughts, feelings, and perceptions (EVER, even 99% of the time), then there is more investigating to be done. After the recognition of Awareness knowingly knowing itself, where do we turn? # 2. Recognizing “The Field of Experience” In the previous phase, it became our experiential understanding that thoughts and sensations were objects to the subject of experience. However, for the purposes of this phase it might be helpful to quickly revisit some of the assumptions that are further embedded within how we are experiencing the inside/outside me/world dynamics. Let us conduct a quick experiment. Let any thought or series of thoughts appear. Take a deep look at that thought and notice that is appearing “within you”. By this, I do not mean within a head, but simply listen closely to the sounds of these thoughts. Then subtly shift your attention to a prominent sound (the sound of traffic, for example). Relax your attention to the sound, as if you if it were white noise while performing chores around the house. Do not put much emphasis on the distinct patterns of the sound. Simply notice how that sound is also appearing “within you”. From there, switch your attention back and forth between the thought(s) and the sound of traffic. When you shifted your attention between your thoughts and the sounds did you cross a border? Where was the distinct boundary between “I am hearing a thought” and “I am hearing traffic”? Where is the border between “the inside world” of my head and the “outside world”? Now direct your attention to the tingling sensation in your feet. Again, relax your attention and notice where this sensation is appearing? Does the tingling of the feet sensation appear “in the world” or “within me”? Go back and forth between these thoughts, sensations, and perceptions until it is absolutely clear and you *feel* that there are no borders between them. Notice that whatever thought, sensation, or perception is appearing within the same field of Awareness. Whatever you are aware of, appears within that field. So let us direct our attention to the nature of this field. When we say “the nature of” something, we mean what is this field “made of” or what is the **substance** or “the stuff?” of that something. As we look more closely at the field we see that the field does not seem to have any edges to it. While everything (every single thought, feeling, and sensation) seems to appear within this field, since we cannot find a border there can be no other fields. Moreover, as we look more closely at the substance of the field, not only do we not find any boundaries in the field, but we do not seem to find any boundaries between the field and the objects we are experiencing. For example, when we listen to “the sound of traffic” (as one example) we might ask the question, “How far away is the sound of traffic?” If we drop the label, “the sound of traffic” and look directly at the dance of the sound, we cannot seem to find a particular location where the sound is registering. If we are open and honest, the most precise answer we can give is “Here”. In fact any sound is registering right here. Then it dawns on you that any perception: viewing the moon, the taste of ice cream, the feeling of the couch, the smell of coffee, and the roar of traffic is all happening “Here”. Even calling it 0 centimeters away isn’t quite accurate. The experience of Life becomes much warmer and intimate. When this realization sinks in, we conceive ourselves to be oceanic, a vast limitless space of experience. At this milestone, our experiential understanding is: what “I Am” is That *to which* everything appears and *in which* everything appears. This is an important step in the journey and a critical precursor for the next phase, but we **are still in dualism.** As long as we truly believe there are objects (things that have their own independent existence), there will be resistance and thus psychological suffering. # 3. Moving from “The Field of Experience” to “I am Everything” The most fundamental and guiding questions of this phase are: a) Do objects exist a part from perception? b) What is the substance or “the stuff” perceptions (vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching) are made of? To understand the nature of experience it is imperative to answer these questions. Once again, we turn again to our direct experience; we turn to thoughts, sensations, and perceptions to see if we can better understand what they are made of. For example, take the previous example of the “sound of traffic”. If we drop the label, “the sound of traffic”, and we relax the focus of attention, we can see clearly that there is raw data appearing in the field of awareness happening “here”. An undulation of the field of awareness vibrating to the Self, and this vibration of energy is known through the activity of hearing. We conclude, “the activity of hearing is happening”. However, we must take an even closer look at the activity of hearing. Drop the label “the activity of hearing” and relax the attention again. Look very closely look a forensic scientist AND with childlike innocence, what is the hearing made of? Dwell on the question: Can we separate the “knowing of” from the perception of hearing? When we carefully look at the activity of hearing (or any of the other senses) it “made of” our own Self (i.e. Knowing or Awareness). Repeat this process for each of the senses, if need be. You may consider trying vision last because it is the most difficult. It dawns on us that no matter what we are experiencing, whether it be a sunset or a symphony, the laughter of a child or the crying of a stranger, is the knowing of the perception and knowing is another name of the Self – what I am. At this juncture, we begin to understand what Krishna said in 6:30 of the Bhagavad Gita: “For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.” This comment bares a close resemblance to what Rupert Spira says, “\[the Self\] sees its own face. It sees itself in all things and all things in itself’. From this perspective, all things are appearing in the Self and are “made of” the Self. Now our perspective is what “I am” is That *to which* everything appears, *in which* appears, and *made of* everything that appears. However, **this is still duality.** While this is nearly as accurate as words can describe Self-realization, there are still several layers of unchallenged assumptions that need to be worked through. With this understanding and these descriptions, we are legitimizing the reality of objects and not standing firmly as Awareness (or the Self) as our starting point. “All things within myself” is giving objects far too much credit. As the wise have pointed out time and time again, the primacy of the Self is vital for Self-Realization. So if we stand firm as the Self, and the Self is only and ever our starting point, and look even more closely at our experience, our nondual understanding begins to “falls into place” because the Self is THAT which is taking the shape of all apparent objects. Thinking, sensing, and perceiving is ‘made of” the Self. The Self is simply taking the shape of thoughts, sensations and perceptions, just like water takes the shape of snow, dew, and fog but never becoming anything other than water. And when we say, “The Self knows itSelf”, that means that the Self can only and ever come in contact with itSelf. Knowing knows itself isn’t quite right, so we can just say Knowing is all there is or as the Sufis (and other mystics) have said for centuries, God is all there is. When the Self knowingly knows that the Self is all there is, we call this Self-Realization. **Applying this Understanding to Nisargadatta Maharaj's Quote** For quick reference, here is the quote again, “*I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at, and experience the kind of consciousness it has; I become the inner witness of the thing. I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness, love; you may give it any name you like. Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two, my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both”* When he says he can shift his focus of attention he is not referring to a mystical trick reserved for only sages. For example, imagine you are watching a movie at the theater. You can put your attention squarely on the protagonist of the movie and then shift your attention to the screen in which the protagonist is appearing on. This is the same kind of shift he is referring to in his quotation. In other words, it is possible to shift the attention to the experiential understanding of the witness; as such we become the detached observer, which is what Nisargadatta means when he says, “I am nothing”. Nothing in this case means nothing perceivable or conceivable (but obviously present and aware). However, it is also possible to shift the attention to the experiential understanding that “I am everything” which is synonymous with pure equanimity, completely and fully embracing your own Self, which we can call Love. But as he points out in the last sentence describing either one of those aspects as definite explanations on the nature of reality isn’t quite accurate. We cannot accurately describe “the final analysis” because language collapses. Saying that “Knowing Is” or “the Self is” is quite close but if we are even more precise we could simply use the words “Am” or “Is” while implying “Being-Knowing”. Even this description is still inadequate so we reach the limits of language and remain peacefully quiet. That’s what the Maharaj means when he says he is both, neither, and beyond both. ——————————————————

love is just seeing yourself everywhere love is being blind but seeing you are blind to seeing any other in love there is only yourself. love is union. the end of separation the end of you & I the end of Alex and SoonHei

@Nahm amen. i shouldn't be placing you on a throne now, should I? will have to overthrow you anyhow

@Nahm bruhhhhhh, never ever utter that S word to me again aite?? unsure even about what buttin in is lol but you da king!

@Alex bliss indeed. gotta run the race on a circular track. the starting point is the ending point.

@Angelite oh. not my image. just shared it. and map is never the territory indeed. awareness is not bounded whatsoever. it's infinite

@Name you can create an infinite amount of infinities. __________ Line A there are an infinite number of points in Line A _____________________ Line B there are also an infinite number of points in Line B Line B is however a larger infinity... both are "infinite" yet Line B is a larger infinity... All, however, are sub-sets of ABSOLUTE INFINITY - Which is ONE, WHOLE, ALL-Encompassing, Everything. @Serotoninluv Love it

@Alex bliss keep in mind. it's not that you're not the body / mind it's rather that you are the body / mind... AND everything else. You're not just the body/mind.

Give up is what needs to happen... but not how you think... Give up your identification as the one who says To get enlightenment we must give up

@dimitri love - indeed xoxoxoxo

@dimitri same thing I would have meant if i used any of the following: conscious awake god part of you you

@Quicksilver does every tiny part of your body have feeling sensation? yes. same way. every square millimeter of reality is alive

So much struggle, so much suffering all for an imaginary me desperate to save my self! So funny .. and sad that it all never really happened! I laughed .. and cried a lot. And that didn't happen either.

@electroBeam u got this champ <3 god bless you! and crying aint bad. cry it out. let it out. don't let it build up! it's like stubbing your toe - imagine doing that and just keeping the scream inside... vs letting out a howl of pain/scream as you stub your toe. if it's held in, it becomes trapped in... let it out. allow it to pass.

@Cepzeu the "how" is beyond any knowing whatsoever. it's PURE MAGIC as Leo often says. "how" is it that you are able to see out of your eyes? did you learn it or did you always just see? magic about creation/willing things into existence or creating your dream reality. yes, that is possible but only if you're truly behind the wheel driving your life. you must become and recognize yourself to be the author of your reality. if you were writing a book, the one who writes it, controls what happens next. the one being written (character) has no power to create. Cepzeu has no real power to create... relatively he does. as you are choosing to study about body/diseases. or you can choose to eat healthy or unhealthy etc etc. but to will money into your bank account... cepzeu - at his current reazlied level cannot do that... only the author can... can you become the author? or rather can you see that you're already the author thinking he is a limited Cepzeu? realize your true self and then THY WILL BE DONE

@dimitri that thought is simply an abstraction from the whole and it's not wrong. the whole is infinitely divisible with each of those parts in-turn being infinite and their own direct exp. POV. but ultimately only ONE Experiencer

@erik8lrl and there was this