July/August 2001 Spirituality
See the Self Everywhere

by Aja

What if you didn't give names to anything?  What if you didn't label everything? What if you didn't recognize a separation between what you consider 'you' and 'not you'?  What would it be that is 'Experienced', free from even a subject and an object?

In the beginning of our search for freedom, it is necessary to make some distinctions. Because we have spent our lives attached to and identifying with our bodies, our minds, and our environments, we have become confused and it requires some discrimination to determine what is real and what is not real; what is permanent and what is temporary.

The inquiry, "Who am I?" is meant for this purpose. As we inquire into what is that which we call "I", we, one by one, let go of all those things that are "not I".  We recognize that whatever we are aware OF is an experience or phenomena and therefore not "I".  We are aware OF the body, the mind, the world, feelings, sights, sounds, concepts, beliefs, and so forth, so all of these are temporary objects that come and go, changing from moment to moment.

What is left when all objects are removed is simply consciousness, pure beingness without any form or limitations.  That substratum now shines as the All. It is what is permanent and never changes. Whatever arises is simply coming FROM and IN That consciousness.  It is very much like the dream state where all of the people, buildings, situations are nothing but a world projected from dream matter. Upon waking, we realize that it was unsubstantial and only a projection of ourselves - one consciousness happening.  But while in that dream state, we are sure that there are separate items.

Similarly, when we wake up from this dream of duality, we recognize that there is only one thing happening - consciousness.  Our recognition becomes unified with the wholeness of that consciousness, rather than being identified with individual images which arise in it.  That doesn't mean that those 'things' necessarily disappear, but all is seen, tangibly, as arising in the Self, with the Self in all things.  All experiences, all perceptions, are only the Self experiencing the Self.  We let go of the labels of seer and seen, subject and object. The ideas of "I" and "not I" are only old thought patterns in consciousness.  Those patterns may still arise from time to time, but as the inquiry, "Who am I?" is continued, the patterns themselves dissolve in that fire of awareness. There is not one thing separate from another thing, but only Self shining. Then you see only the Self everywhere!

Love & Blessings,
Aja

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