Letting Go of Intellectual Understandings

Category Ego, Enlightenment

My ability to write is transforming massively and I’m letting go of my identity as a writer… almost as a natural byproduct of what’s happening. The personal self is not deliberately surrendering it away. It is almost being dissolved by a power greater than itself.

I’ve read lots of books on spirituality and accumulated an abundance of intellectual knowledge. I can tell you all about wonderful spiritual theory and sound really smart and well-versed, like a student who’s studied intensely for a test.

But now, all of that accumulated “stuff” is being lovingly cast aside as the emptiness is being progressively revealed and rested in. It feels like the source of my writings is changing. Rather than my writings being primarily collected understandings and interpretations of spirituality, there no longer really is a writer that I could point to… not really.

The writer is the Self itself, writing about itSelf to itSelf for no other reason to be conscious of itSelf and to help awaken more of itSelf to itSelf.

The direct experience of the Self so unbelievably overshadows any intellectual understandings that the latter simply pales in comparison.

It’s like no longer desperately clinging to the light of a tiny candle when you realize you ARE the sun.

There’s not really much desire to access the mind’s understandings because they feel so infinitesimally tiny compared to this Presence that I AM… this nameless infinite Presence that can’t be put into words… whatever IT is.

This shift in no longer relying upon the mind as if it was the bedrock of truth, this definitely takes some getting used to… It’s a new way of operating in the world, like transitioning from crawling to walking, and it comes with a shift in perspective as well.

Talking about things like self-inquiry… those practices are seeming to be not.. I dunno, just nothingness. The practices dissolve the one who would even perform the actions. No action. Just stop. Nothing is necessary to be This. No understandings are necessary. The understandings have about as much basis for truth as a bird beautifully chirping outside. A delightful sound popping into awareness, sure, but what can be contained within the mind doesn’t define who you are or explain what you are.

Nothing within the body/mind structure can ever touch This.

Practices can definitely be helpful to “get there,” but once you’re there and realize you have been there (here) all along, the necessity of practices seems to fall away as consciousness falls into the stillness and expands into the emptiness.

Practices are helpful until they’re no longer needed. Kinda like training wheels, in a sense.

Thank you God for wonderful training wheels!

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21 Responses to “Letting Go of Intellectual Understandings”

Psiplex said:

Love this Ariel! You explained the dissolving of Self so clearly and beautifully! The shift is not relying on mind — so precious.

The mind is like a tool, a compressor or something, good for some tasks but to have the sum of what the Self is being ale to be utilized by the Self, mind is not needed as a control device, in fact it is useless. When the mind goes into the heart, then there is some usefulness for the Source to share. Just letting it go as you described is the non-action that is needed-nothing to be done by a doer or controller. The Source connects those beings to ensure everything is being done.

Thank you for the post!

Psiplexs last blog post..Universal Employment

On Common Ground Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
BEAUTIFULLY PUT, Psiplex! Beutifully put.

And good job, Ariel! Keep ‘em coming!

On Common Grounds last blog post..Got Enlightenment?
preeti said:

Hi
The way you have stated,it must be a beautiful mindset,Empty….Nothingness….
Nicholas Powiull said:

Neale Donald Walsh would call this: Communion with God (http://www.universe-people.com.....oad3_e.htm)

Nicholas Powiulls last blog post..Powiull Sleep Day 42 (New Changes and More Information About Vibrational Frequency)
Marko said:

Gee this is wonderful onederful stuff, but I don’t find the intellect is disappearing in you as much as it is transcending and loosening uP it’s grip of preconceived notions on how life and things should be.

The intellect and labels and constructions we put on the world and Universe, ourselves are seen in a much different light when we are seeing and experiencing the world though peace, harmony, creativity, love etc.

We don’t need so much to transcend the world as much as we first need to create more consistent Inner Peace, Harmony etc that pervades a majority of our experience and actions.

The desire for transcendence is often triggered by the frustrations and negative contrasts we see in the world. Transcendence is less a desire when our life experiences are filled with Inner Peace and Harmony.

Yet from these states of being transcendence can come as a by product.

Now, the need “not” to have to practice things like meditation, visualizations, or study techniques to helps us move develop and create in the world (as you seem to suggest in your present state), is another thing entirely.

I will eagerly await what this means and how this plays out and displays itself to you in the weeks and months to come.

A person can be a master at the piano and experience and play transcendently, yet still desire to practice to create even more transcendence too I would
think.

Anne Partain Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I agree with Marko, The state you describe is a wonderful letting go as the result of a new view or experience of yourself. Because there is no end to us, I would tend to agree that you will again desire to play the game and find more new vistas.

That’s just what I think, I always delight in the new broader views.

I share your delight in this one.

Anne Partains last blog post..No More Blind Spots

Ariel Bravy Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Yes, there is no end. Certainly. Taking off training wheels doesn’t mean you stop riding your bike.

You are an eternal being with no beginning and no end. There’s different experiences you can have, certainly, but there is no finish line to cross, not even enlightenment.

~ Julie Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
“Taking off training wheels doesn’t mean you stop riding your bike.” That’s perfect! I have to agree that once you know that you can let go and let life lead you where it may, the SEEKING of intellectual pursuits is pretty much gone.

Things will come to you on your path at the right time and you will follow them through. Someone will lend you the perfect book at the perfect time. You read the book and your mind is at work interpreting it. You haven’t stopped riding the bike! You haven’t even stopped using the training wheels (the book). You just didn’t SEEK the training wheels. They came to you!

An experience that you just had will have prepared you perfectly for the next experience, which will have prepared you perfectly for the next experience, which will have prepared you perfectly for the next experience. Wash, rinse, repeat. Along with the knowledge from the prior experience, intuitions arise during experiences as well which help you through the current experience.

Everything happens synchronistically without effort on the minds part, like looking up a phrase on the internet and being lead to a website that resonates perfectly with what you are experiencing. The phrase pops into your head. You don’t sit there and think…hmmm…maybe I’ll look up “blah”. You are DRAWN to do it.

All knowledge is available through the connection with source and will arise when needed. Let go. The whole secret to life. Letting go. COMPLETELY.

Ariel Bravy Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Sure. I didn’t say it was disappearing at all. Awareness is simply changing focus. Realizing you’re the sun doesn’t make the candle go away, to continue the previous metaphor.

The intellect is certainly still there, but it’s getting harder to access, and less desirable too.

When you say transcend the world, Marko, what does that word mean to you? That one somehow escapes the world and is no longer an active participant within it?

Marko Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
“We don’t need so much to ‘transcend the world’ as much as we first need to create more consistent Inner Peace, Harmony etc that pervades a majority of our experience and actions.”

Ariel, In this context that I’m speaking, is, that if we experience a lot of peace and harmony the need to transcend illusions and desires etc. is much less because we are already happy and satisfied.

Because in seeking transcendence, we usually really are seeking to experience peace and harmony, or more of it.

That doesn’t mean we don’t want to progress, transcend, grow spiritually of course. But it seems that the need for spiritual growth and transcendence often (not always) comes out of unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

I think that if we seek the kingdom of Inner Peace and harmony first the rest will follow.

If we have it (that is, Inner Peace and Harmony) and still seek more of it, and to transcend we are coming from a healthy life affirming space of energy.

If we are not, and our unhappiness and dissatisfaction leads us to gain more Inner Peace and transcendence, that’s good too. We win either way of course.

My point? Inner Peace and Harmony first, will be a more beneficial guide to further growth and advancement in our evolution. (Oh by the way, notice that LOVE is spelled backward in evolution!) I’d like to see more focus and attention on a larger experience of Inner Peace and Harmony first in our world, let all the other exotic transcendent stuff be the wonderful, onederful by product.

I love exotic transcendent spiritual experiences, just that we as a world need the Peace and Harmony more at this time.

So to transcend the world to me is either to escape what we don’t like, or that we’ve enjoyed the journey, had enough, and are ready to move on.

Hope this helps. It’s all good stuff!

Ariel Bravy Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Ah yeah, I see what you’re saying Marko. People definitely do get into things as a way to escape their problems. That’s what all addictions are about. They’re basically distractions from our own internal issues.

Transcendence, the way I see it, is simply rising above a previous level, not actually escaping from a place.

For example, if you transcend the fear of public speaking, you become totally natural and easy up on stage. You don’t run away from the stage because you can’t do it.

Transcendence, the way I use the word, is literally about bringing in the energy of the higher level, Peace and Harmony as you describe it, into the experience you’re having.

Might you no longer be in that situation any longer once you transcend the fear? Quite possibly, but not necessarily.

Heaven is literally here and now, not just a place you go to after death. (The kingdom of God is at hand!) A lot of religions teach that you somehow go beyond after death, but as Eckhart Tolle put it, “The secret to life is to die before you die and find there is no death.”

Transcendence happens here during “real life,” not as a stage after it.

I would suggest that you can’t have true inner peace without realizing who you truly are. Relative peace, sure, but not the peace that passeth all understanding, as it’s often put.

In the same way that there’s many religions, there’s many spiritual paths. Some focus on inner peace, some grace, some harmony, some forgiveness, some appreciation, some service.. whatever. Different paths for different people. There is no “one right way things should be done.”

I agree with you that transcending the world isn’t about escaping what you don’t like, for it’s always here and now. You can’t run away from your shadow.

Spirituality may start from the resistance to what is, but it must ultimately turn around into acceptance of what is, or inner pace and harmony, if true transcendence is to occur.

Marko Reply:
February 20th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Ariel, I do like your definition/s of transcendence.

Anne Partain Reply:
February 20th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Hi Marko, I don’t know about anybody else, but I really enjoyed this comment.

Anne Partains last blog post..Making it All Up

Marko Reply:
February 20th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Hi back Anne, what specific comment are you referring to exactly?
~ Julie said:

I totally know what you mean Ariel. (Or so I think!)

Awakening is definitely not a linear/intellectual/mind-based “process” is it?! I feel sometimes like I jump back and forth between “higher” and “lower” levels of consciousness. My connection to source feels much “higher” now, and continually increasing, than it has ever been previously in this life.

I sometimes refer to it as strength of spirit. I know it will always come to the surface for someone if they “crash”, but you don’t have to crash to find out it’s there. You can allow it to be, and the more you allow, the more you will feel connected to spirit (even though you always are, and cannot be separate).

It’s so amazing how much we can bury it under thoughts and illusion! And how once you have that awakening experience, there are no longer any really important questions. Questions might arise, but the need for an answer isn’t present. An answer may come, it may not. Anything is acceptable. Nothing is necessary. Sooo freeing!

I was a very ‘need answers’ person. My life is so uncluttered now because I can let go of EVERY thought. It doesn’t mean I no longer have thoughts, but none of them are NECESSARY or need to be chased! I can let them go. Same with actions. Nothing is necessary. Freedom!
Kaushik said:

The intellect does indeed change. I was a software engineer for many years, and in the last ten I held jobs that distanced me from developing software; with the present economy, I thought I would re-train myself as software developer again. I’ve been practicing awareness and release for about two years now. To my great surprise, I found I could not re-train as a software engineer. Perhaps, as awareness opens up, there is loss of interest in concepts and ideas. It’s a strange thing. On the other hand, writing and intuition flows much easier…I don’t have the clarity that Ariel does; one day it just hit me that concepts, spritual or otherwise, are not all that interesting…what a relief!
Evelyn Lim said:

You wrote so beautifully. Hope to experience the oneness and nothingness in my writings one day!

Blessings,
Evelyn

Evelyn Lims last blog post..Installing Love On the Human Computer
Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coaching said:

Thanks for this post. I know I definitely need a reminder once in a while that all the things I think I know about spiritual practice are false in the end, because they’re based on a false belief that there’s something “out there” for me to know about. Best, Chris

Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coachings last blog post..Inner Productivity, Part Five: Breathing Through Our Fear
Jasper said:

Greetings, beautiful aspects of ONE!

Ariel, you´re starting to sound like a modern Huang Po, but less cryptic.

I love it!

Is there a new direction for your journey coming up, as all that you used to be somehow loses importance?
With that powerful energy, you could certainly be of great service. (and you are already!

Bless you guys!

Ariel Bravy Reply:
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Thank you Jasper. That’s one of the greatest compliments anyone’s ever given me.

As for the new direction, it feels more like a letting go of everything I am not, a literal falling away of all the fear, restriction, and self-imposed limitation in order to fully embrace and appreciate my own love and light.

and for purely selfish reasons too. Not to “save the world” or anything, but purely to be who I am and experience my true nature. The effects of being myself, that’ll all take care of itself on its own. My only responsibility is me.

Jasper Reply:
February 24th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Yeah, that makes sense.

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
is it, I guess.