THE DISSOLUTION OF EGOISM AND THE RESTITUTION OF THE SELF As the body continually changes, it has no reality, being different at each moment. The real self is changeless and endures. From our relative viewpoint the body and self give rise to an "I" notion. This notion cannot be changed as it the nature of human beings. However, the realization of this fact can be known. Once we learn to witness our thoughts and remember having those thoughts, it will be seen that they do not arise from the body but from the immutable, eternal self. Identification with an independent agent will cease, and even thought the notion that I exist as an independent agent will continue to arise, it will no longer hold one captive. Duality will be seen as only an illusion, albeit a strong one subject to the rules of life.
The appearance of an object implies an observer. Once we realize that an observer, observes the object the witness appears. I witness the observation of the object. If, at this time, I can sense that the witness appears separately from the object and the observer of that object, it is possible to realize an existence beyond the object and observer. Beyond subject and object lies the non dual.
The senses continually accept input, as they cannot be separated from the object sensed, therefore our only recourse is to realize the true nature of that input. Sensory input affects the body only and not the true self which is the witness of that interaction between subject and object. Being the witness the body is transcended. Being transcended the witness is free of the body. Freedom from the body the witness is never born and never dies as does the body. Never born, never dying, fear never can arise.
Unfortunately this is not always possible and setting out on a journey alone in many cases would be preferable to staying at home.
Time for a little regression. John Levy was born into wealth in Britain in 1910. He was an artist and musician specializing in Indian (as in India) folk music. He became an orthodox Jew, and studied the Cabbala. He then turned to orthodox Islam and Sufism, finally giving his wealth away and going to India to study Advaita Vedanta under Atmananda Krishna Menon. He served as a soldier in the Army Educational Corps in India during WWII. He returned to the West and published the book we are discussing in 1956. He wrecked his motorcycle in the 70s and lapsed into a coma lasting several weeks. Both legs were amputated and he never fully regained his health. He died in 1976.
THE VERBAL EXPRESSION OF NON-DUALITY Those who know it do not speak about it. Those who speak about it do not know it. Tao Te Ching - Verse 56
During the latter years the body starts failing and the pull of the other side, the needed return to spirit land, allowing the Maya of the physical turn of the short timer here immersed in the physical to drop away. Spirit encapsulates the physical, not the other way around. Meaning that spirit creates the physical. Spirit is the home suite and trumps all. Even as we return to the physical to create experiences to aid in Growth for the Whole, we come home to spirit for rejuvenation, Balance, and perspective from Spirit. Most lose sight of the fact that spirit is continuity, having no limits, our home ground. The programs of society, the desire to accumulate; the sirens call for the gratification of the physical senses, entices; and the memory of Spirit seems more imaginary than real for many. For some, the memory perspective of Spirit is retained in greater degree, but for the sake of growing beyond, for experiencing anew; the full parameters of Spirit demanding focus and clarity - a balance available by the oversight of Spirit is not normally fully available during the time immersed in the physical. How each reacts to the immersion into the Maya of the physical depends upon the level of awareness and development they have chosen to bring along to achieve the goals they feel are needed for both universal and individual growth. If the choices made allow us to reach older age, a time when children are grown and on their own, when the desire to accumulate and accomplish more with the personally narrowing limits of an aging body drops away - a time when our focus is drawn to what comes when physical life ceases. The cloak of the wandering pilgrim returning from the time immersed in the physical, heading back into the Spirit; is recognized and encouraged by many philosophies. For some few, it is a time when the veil is thinner and a spiritual perspective becomes more important and focused on. Many seekers seem to become more illusionary in the physical realms as they turn and focus on Spirit. Then - transition - the physical drops away. We return to our spiritual heritage. And from that more inclusive perspective choose the settings for our next immersion into the physical to help us learn and grow to become More, to grow Beyond. Hence our preoccupation with deciding what to let fall away and what to keep. We Know we bring nothing but our Being and how we let our reactions shape us back to the immersive Whole in the realm of Spirit. We are preparing ourselves for our re-immersion into the full of Spirit as the physical atrophies and Spirit becomes the focus. And we Grow On. Fly High and Enjoy, though sometimes more trying, the rewards of the higher consciousness are not ephemeral. Disclaimer: Though we may think we know - we don’t. Life is an opportunity and becomes what we make of it May the Light of Love guide our Way Namaste {my spirit bows to your spirit} John loboduro (oldwolf) nomadhermit Waysharer
THE PROBLEM OF RELATION Thoughts occur in time and space in relation to the body only. As time is always the now moment any thought that is considered has already passed and all such thoughts are based on sensory input which is conditioned by the apparent relation of the thing perceived and the perceiving apparatus. As such we have already determined that both the thing perceived and the perceiving apparatus are in reality one and the same, as neither exists without the other. As perception occurs in the brain it is a material occurrence, just as a camera records a material image on film. Therefore just as a camera and film lack consciousness, so too the perception in the brain lacks inherent consciousness. Consciousness of the brain's and senses' activity must come from without just as consciousness of the image on film must come from an observer, not the camera or film itself.
The reality is, the evidence indicates we inhabit a Goldilocks universe, and 42 is as good as it gets. That means existentialist angst is related to your immune system, and should obey the epidemiology of infectious diseases, spreading according to how strongly people insist everything must make sense. Our conscious thoughts have proven to physically emerge from our unconscious emotions, indicating a self-organizing system, and that our universe can be considered simultaneously allegorical and metaphorical. In other words, reality is stranger than fiction, so get over it already!
All experience occurs in the brain, sans involuntary bodily functions, and as such are related by the activity of the brain. The notions that arrive from these experiences arise independently of the experiences of the brain and are not related to each other...except by that which is other than the activity of the brain; that is pure consciousness.
XXV Our experiences are our entire reality. When we consider this reality from all that we can know of that reality, through that reality, we cannot consider it apart from that reality and so anything outside of our experience cannot be known. Likewise if we view our reality from outside of that reality our individuality would vanish as all we can know is our experienced reality. The two views are not distinct, yet they are complementary, they are not apart, yet they are not the same.
XXV Consciousness exists not as a function of the brain, as the functions of the brain can be observed consciously by the very individual whose brain is in question. Consciousness itself appears as the witness of all that is experienced. Once this is known it will be recognized that consciousness does not originate in the brain and that subject and object are not separate entities.
XXVI NON-DUALITY Subject and object viewed as separate entities must be different. Yet viewed from the standpoint of ultimate reality, no object has an inherent existence. Wrong thinking views the object as real as it alone has substance and subjective consciousness has no tangibility. Therefore consciousness is a product of objective reality. However as objects change and consciousness does not, only consciousness can be real as only that which doesn't change has inherent reality.
XXVI Ultimate truth can only be known by direct experience, words cannot exactly convey that experience as words have inherent biases and multiple meanings depending on context and individual interpretations. Written words even more so as they are remotely viewed from the originator and are not subject to interpretation as they are being formed. Regardless, they do provide a guide to what an experience of Ultimate reality entails. However, with this in mind it must be remembered that in attempting to describe Ultimate Reality, or to provide a path to an experience of Ultimate Reality, written words may be used in contexts which are unfamiliar to the reader. This may entail seeming contradictions which, in general, are stated in an attempt to cause one to look beyond the common meanings and understandings of the words or concepts in order to see beyond the everyday illusions of duality.
XXVI We all know we exist, "Cogito, ergo sum". To doubt one's own existence is to call into question the act of doubting itself. If I doubt I exist, who is it that doubts that existence? Others may doubt that I exist but that is not the same as doubting that they themselves exist. The act of doubting one's existence must be accomplished by seeing beyond the individual in question. Again, as the teeth cannot bite themselves, doubt of one's individuality must come from beyond the individual.