To experientially verify the essential attributes of what we are, we must only attend to that within our self which is ever-present. Only that which is ever-present in our ever-presence can be intrinsic to our reality.
Right now, our self is completely open to be known as deeply as it is here. All that is necessary is to ask our self, 'what is my nature?' And just by asking this question with interest, referring directly to our innermost presence, the answer will inevitably reveal itself in and as the pure awareness of awareness.
As our interest and love marinates with the question, thoughts gradually dissolve and our attention relaxes into the self-evident answer that is our ever-present background. The essential nature of our self shines as that background.
Whilst this question is contemplated within us, various forms of perception may begin to arise, embedded with the suggestion that these forms could be definitive attributes of our self; for instance, a thought, an imaginary picture of the body, a bodily sensation, the sound of the body breathing, etc. As we notice these forms arising and subsiding, we continue the investigation, simply asking our self, 'are these forms essential, ever-present attributes of my presence? Or are they temporary?' And we see these forms for what they are, in the innocence of our fresh looking.
If any phenomenon appears, transforms and disappears, it is evidently not essential or ever-present in our self. Before it arose, it was not present within us, and yet, we were completely being our self. As it transforms and flows by, we remain completely the same, unchanging self. And after it vanishes, we remain present as the same unchanged self.
So, in this way, we experience directly that such forms of perception are not intrinsic attributes of our essential, ever-present nature. They are not always 'with us.' Only that which is always 'with us' can be regarded as being always an attribute of what we are.
If we contemplate the implications of this understanding, a profound insight will reveal itself in us. That is, all temporary forms that we experience - thoughts, sensations, perceptions, etc. - are not definitions or attributes of our essential, ever-present nature. This understanding is huge; infinite, in fact, for everything finite, that is, everything limited to time and change is understood not to be a definition or attribute of our self. That's a lot of stuff! Actually that's all the stuff that exists.
The mind, body and universe are solely composed of perceptual forms that come and go. There is no matter to the entire universe of phenomena other than comings and goings. No phenomenon is stable or static. Only our self is ever-present and unchanging. As such, our self is not limited by any phenomenon that exists, for our self never changes, it never becomes a phenomenon that comes and goes. It remains, abiding in and as itself. Totally right on!
So let's list some finite, temporary phenomena that do not limit us, just for the fun of seeing how unlimited we are. We are not limited by any thought; the thought of lack, expectation or judgement; nor to the emotions of anger, fear or depression; nor are we limited to the arms, the legs, the head, the mouth, or the belly of the body; nor are we restricted by circumstances, events, people or places; nor are we contained within the structure of the universe; for all of these things are finite appearances, coming and going from experience, and our self - this simple presence of awareness - is not finite. Our presence is ever-present, the only one that doesn't come and go.
Infinity cannot be limited by that which is finite. It is infinite!
This all may seem radically far-fetched to the mind that has believed for so long that 'I' is exclusively limited to a particular body or soul. At this stage of our contemplation together, the mind may be putting up a fight with a wacky host of objections, that seem credible on the surface. But if we look closely at what all of these objections posit, we can see that a belief has crept in, which imagines our self to be an entity that comes and goes, a belief that is conjoined to its corollary belief; that a supposed object 'out there' is more stable and permanent than our self.
How do we meet such a belief? With the scrutiny of direct, truly scientific, investigation. Is that belief really true in the reality of experience? As we have seen, the answer is a big, infinite 'No!'
The straightforward evidence of our investigation reveals that the 'world out there' is a flux of sense perceptions, appearing and disappearing from moment to moment. Not one aspect of the entire 'world' is permanent and unchanging, including the human body and all the bodies. If we check freshly, the only experience we have of 'bodies' is an intermittent and changeful display of sense perceptions.
How can we, the ever-presence of presence, be limited to the 'world', 'universe', whatever it is, if it comes and goes? We are always here to watch it appear and disappear. Just be this here which never goes anywhere, for it is everywhere, as the reality of everything. Rest here, and let it be what is, what it already is.
Gradually, or suddenly, as this contemplation marinates within us, the stability of knowing oneself as unlimited remains as it essentially is; unchanging. The mind progressively loses its fuel to rise with the conviction that our self is limited. It has been seen, and continues to be seen in the ever-presence of now, that everything temporary in existence cannot limit our self. We witness everything coming and going, whilst remaining perfectly stable in being our self, the essential self of reality.
The presence of our self, this presence of awareness, is the only permanent reality. When we say, 'I' or 'myself' or 'me', we are referring to the infinite. And there is only one infinite. I is you and you are I. There is only one self, and it is us, our Self.
Comments