Hey, Leo!

[Travis]

@Leo Gura Leo, I'm starting to pierce the veil  this is an excerpt from an ongoing dialogue that I've been having with a friend. Your work came right on time  

 

 

I'm not sure if my ontology is mixing in with what I'm about to say, but I see everything as follows:

Awareness is the ultimate. It's the end-all be-all. I don't know the nature of this "awareness" other than what it absolutely has to be in my thinking, which is that it allows for everything! It is the most pure, and clear thing that could possibly exist. I don't understand the depths of its perfection, but I can get an experiential hold on the fact that it is perfectly pure.

I don't understand this "nothingness" Ilona. And I know, necessarily, that it can't be known, because that would turn it into an object of consciousness, which wouldn't be it because whatever possible way I could conceive of it would arise in consciousness and necessarily not be "it". 

I see that no separation exists. Whatever this nothingness is, it is without limit. 

I was thinking today about the thought "why is this nothingness even here?" That was probably the most profound thought that I've ever had in my life. Why does this nothingness exist, that allows for all of these supposed "objects" to exist? What "law" made this nothingness exist in the first place?! Why is it here????

There's nothing left to figure out regarding what all of this is. It is perfect meaninglessness. The most sublime perfect meaninglessness that could only exist because of the games we play as humans. The beauty of this nothingness is manifested in the complete and utter spectrum of all of the possible human experiences. 

Once again, I haven't digested what all of this means, but that question that I had is still so wonderfully unanswered and lovely: why does the nothingness exist? Did it necessarily have to? What kind of intelligence is behind such a thing? (I don't mean to get lost in words. I'm just having fun trying to express what these implications are

Wow. That's all I can say. I would love to hear your thoughts on why this nothingness is here, Ilona.

[Travis]

Also, @Leo Gura I also saw for the first time "what the fuck is a tree?" That question is exactly the same question as "why is this nothingness here?" 

I'm looking forward to digesting all of these implications over "time"

[Travis]

The most profound insight I could ever have about enlightenment is just as much not "it" as the most simple of thoughts. Everything is perfectly and entirely swallowed up in "it," whatever the fuck this "is" is.

[Travis]

Wow. This is just what is coming up, so bare with me: is pure love all that really exists? Like this weird thing that couldn't possibly have a label or meaning? It's nothing though? How can no-thingness have any qualities? Does its quality of swallowing all other qualities make it its, necessarily, only quality? Paradox as fuck? 

What the hell is going on? Not worried though

[Travis]

Can I really dip in and out of this at "will"?

[cetus]

4 hours ago, Travis said:

It's nothing though? How can no-thingness have any qualities?

@Travis The no-thingness of it is it's finest quality. That is perfection beyond anything that can be perceived by the mind that exists in this world of things.  Imagine this world we live in as being like a thousand honking horns. Constant honking, and noise, day in and day out all happening within  mind. Than suddenly all the honking and noise stops and all that remains is absolute blissful silence. The noise all happened within silence but yet the noise is not the silence. If it contained anything than it would no longer be in a state of absolute purity. So it allows everything to happen within it without containing a single thing. Is that a paradox to the mind? You better believe it is! The question about love is something I wonder about myself. Is love no more than a product of mind? Or does love flow without any limitations between what exists and pure emptiness? Could love be the one link between the two? Is pure love and absolute emptiness really one in the same? Does pure love transcend all existence? I have a feeling it does for some reason that I can't explain.

[Travis]

@cetus56 @Wormon Blatburm I appreciate your comments. These are more excerpts from this ongoing dialogue. What are your thoughts on these?

 

I'll spend some time with the sutra. Thanks, Ilona.

1) Is awareness the witness? 
2) Is there a witness? 
3) Are you the witness?

The answer to all three questions is the same. Awareness=witness. No-thingness is just there allowing for everything. What came to mind when I saw those questions was something like this (and I know it's just a story): It's like "no-thingness" hung itself on a hanger, and it started adding little pieces to itself until it formed a human out of itself, and the human can experience so many things, but it knows that it can only ever be itself. 

That's the best way I know how to answer the questions.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just wanted to share what I've been noticing:

This work is pure faith. The most pure kind of faith, because there is no choice of faith. Faith is the only option. Truth is. Whatever is untrue is going to go away. It will be "witnessed." Faith stands untouched.

It's like, for all of these years, I was just pretending not to be awake. It's like the mind would say, "yeah, you're awake, but let's not concern ourself with that. There are other things to do."

Strong feelings are manifesting. Illusion being slowly ripped apart is leaving more room for feelings to be felt.

I am very conscious of my surroundings. The noises of the city are all noticeable. It feels like it can be overwhelming. 

I'm finding a bit of comfort in knowing that whatever a human being can experience, it is never too much for what "is." What "is" will always be there to contain it.

These are just some things I've been noticing.

[Travis]

20 hours ago, cetus56 said:

Is love no more than a product of mind? Or does love flow without any limitations between what exists and pure emptiness? Could love be the one link between the two? Is pure love and absolute emptiness really one in the same? Does pure love transcend all existence? I have a feeling it does for some reason that I can't explain.

Yes, and it also seems that this "pure faith" thing is also tied up in this perfect love. The seeming paradox is that these do, in fact, bridge the gap between the two, and hence, contain everything, and this no-thingness has these inherent qualit... yeah, I'm getting lost in mind but there seems to be "something" there to become aware of more deeply. I don't know. haha 

[cetus]

@Travis

2 hours ago, Travis said:

1) Is awareness the witness? 
2) Is there a witness? 
3) Are you the witness?

Mooji answers your questions here @58:00:00  Witness="observer". What he explains is what I experience as truth also. I lack the ability to put these things into words as well as Mooji does though. I found this satsang to be most helpful. I hope you will too.

[cetus]

"For a little while the infinite self dreamed itself to be the finite self" Mooji    How powerful is that?

[Wouter]

@Travis In my view spirituality is not about concepts, but about experience.

[Travis]

This is the latest post between me and my friend. Please feel free to comment: 

 

She posed these questions:

What is it that needs an identity, identifies, and takes it seriously? What is the I that experiences personality?

 

The thoughts and feelings that manifest as "suffering" is what identifies, needs an identity, and takes it seriously. 

Once "suffering" manifests, it necessarily separates itself from what is (I mean, just creates the illusion of separation). Awareness gets focused onto the suffering and identifies with it as something that is happening to this illusory 'me.' 

I see through the suffering. I see that the more one suffers, the more conscious awareness is being focused on something, as if it could harm a 'me'. 

Someone related enlightenment, or the truth of no-self, to experiencing a 180 degree shift in consciousness, and that's exactly what all of the implications suggest. Why is what "is" conscious? And why does it seem that it is love? It didn't have to be anything, but it's this. The only way it can be? Free will doesn't exist, but does the formless have qualities that it "chose" such as love? A whole slew of questions that I would have never thought about before are now realized as the only real questions. And maybe deepening my knowing will answer some of these questions. I won't know until it happens (and if it happens). 

I've sat with the sutra for a while. It seems to point to the utter impossibility of what "is" being capable of experiencing suffering. Since I am that, everything can be allowed to be a game. "What does the universe want to do today?" for instance. If awareness is allowed to rest in itself, then there can be no entanglement between it and form. If there is no entanglement between itself and form, and it is seen to be this way necessarily, then that is the end of suffering. Detachment means the realization that nothing in the world of form is you, and is infinitely far from you, but is you. Once meaning and value have been taken away from everything, liberation is the only thing left. Freedom is. 

Like I said in an earlier post, Ilona, I've been on this track for a while, and just didn't know that it would lead me here. I didn't know where truth was to be found. I didn't know that the truth of no self would open everything up. I have suspected for several years now that there was no free will, and there was no 'me', so maybe that is why I didn't have a bliss experience (or maybe deepening my seeing will produce one) like so many people report. I experienced some changes, but nothing ultra dramatic like some people say. I know peak experiences are not the Truth, and obviously are just as far from Truth as anything else that is experienced by the body/mind, but is there some deeper seeing that I've yet to become aware of, do you think? 

I know this is just mind conjuring up stuff to try to get attention, but I honestly feel that there is nothing else to do. I don't need to read anymore. I don't have this feeling that I need to keep searching. The only thing I've been experiencing lately is this feeling of just not giving a damn about outcomes. I feel that I can just do whatever I want from now on, and that's the end of the story. Game over. If I get up and go walk in the park for a few hours and come home and just sit, and then go to bed, that's just fine. If I want to go play a video game, it's just fine. If I want to challenge myself in a way that I can achieve deeper insight into this life thing, then that's fine too. 

There is a lot of conditioning that says I should be doing something else now. Since I've seen no-self, I ought to do "something" else now. And I don't think that's the case at all. If I let go completely every day then what happens, happens, and it just is what it is. 

That's the plan for now...just to live and see what arises

Also, I'm starting to taste the beauty of non-attachment. Clinging is suffering. When something amazing is witnessed without clinging, then that is fulfillment. If life is lived without clinging, that is fulfillment. At that point, life is complete.

[MarcusJ]

Travis is becoming 'The Dude!'  Excellent!