When we were very young and just learning to speak, we learned our names and began referring to ourselves in the third person. “Bobby is hungry.”
Then we eventually learned to use pronouns such as “I” or “me” and changed our speaking to reflect this by instead saying “I am hungry.”
This shift to using pronouns made our speech easier, but it reflected a key error: A misperception of who “I” am and a resulting misuse of the word “I.”
We are all taught, growing up, that “I” am a separate individual self over here and “you” are another separate individual self over there. This seems fine and dandy on the level of appearances, but when we are ready to grow spiritually, this deeply ingrained speech pattern is something that eventually must be transcended. We must come to totally redefine what is meant by the word “I” and one of the first steps is to stop using the word incorrectly.
What is experienced in life is not something to be identified with, but simply phenomena that is arising within your awareness, like a cloud rolling through the skies. It’s not you. It’s simply arising phenomena.
The Disassociation Game
Instead of referring to what you ARE, refer to what you are EXPERIENCING.
Instead of saying, “I am hungry,” say, “The body that I have is hungry.”
Instead of saying, “I think that’s a good idea,” say, “The mind I have thinks that’s a good idea.”
Instead of saying, “I am happy,” say, “I am experiencing happiness.”
What this will do is it will quickly differentiate what you ARE with what is being EXPERIENCED in the moment.
Refer to yourself in the third person.
Instead of saying, “I am hungry,” say, “The body that Ariel has is hungry.”
Instead of saying, “I think that’s a good idea,” say, “The mind Ariel has thinks that’s a good idea.”
Instead of saying, “I am happy,” say, “Ariel is experiencing happiness.”
In reality, it’s not “you” experiencing these things because a separate and individual “you” doesn’t exist in the first place. Try dropping the word “I” altogether. By referring to yourself in the third person, it will quickly become very clear that YOU are simply the one aware of all this phenomena arising, but you will not be identified with it.
DISIDENTIFICATION is the key!
George likes his chicken spicy!
People may find it silly to hear “you” speaking in such a way and “you” may find it more comfortable to start off talking only to yourself in the third person.
Nevertheless, this simple game will help bring awareness back to the fact that you are not the one associated with all these things happening in the world, but simply the witness of that.
There’s a very important difference I’d like to talk about because without being aware of this, it may seem like two different paths and ideologies can be in conflict with each other whereas they’re simply choosing to ultimately achieve the same thing, fulfillment of the soul and a place of well-being, but via different methods and teachings.
The Saint is a man who disciplines his ego. The Sage is a man who rids himself of his ego.
-Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei
Historical Background
When the Buddha came to the earth and began teaching his Dharma 2500 years ago, he basically began teaching a pathway to enlightenment. His eight-fold path leads to the end of human suffering and self-awakening.
Enlightenment is essentially a complete disidentification with the ego, our idea of a separate self. As one searches for Truth and begins to look within, they will often find that there really is no separate self in the first place, only the idea of one which they can then pretend to be real and thus who I am. Enlightenment is about letting go of identification with the false self, with that which you are not.
For those of you familiar with David Hawkins’ map of consciousness, spiritual awakening corresponds with consciousness level 600, the initial level of enlightenment.
Now practically speaking, total spiritual awakening can be a pretty challenging task for people, especially for people back thousands of years ago who were far less spiritually evolved than people today. You and I have a bit of a head start compared to people in those days since many of us are open to and have been exposed to higher level teachings our whole lives.
Yes you can become enlightened this very instant, but it generally takes a lot of effort to get to that level of surrender.
When Jesus came down, 500 years after Buddha, he taught people to strive for a different goal which is easier for the masses to reach: Unconditional Love.
We can’t really say to ourselves, “Let’s be enlightened now” and have it happen just like that, but we can choose to be unconditionally loving in the moment.
Jesus taught about loving your neighbor as yourself, being a loving person, and so on. His teachings basically guide people to being the best “me” that they can be. He encourages people to become the highest and most loving and compassionate separate self possible, even though he does mention how we are all Gods and ultimately One.
For those of you familiar with Hawkins’ scale of consciousness, Unconditional Love calibrates at consciousness level 540, the highest level attainable before enlightenment at 600. Again, if you don’t know what the numbers mean, no worries. What’s important to take away is the idea that Unconditional Love is the highest state that an individual can attain.
Both paths, unconditional love and enlightenment, are absolutely amazing and deal support the fulfillment of the soul. It’s not about gaining worldly possessions and attaining worldly power and status, but about fulfillment of the soul and becoming whole and complete as a being.
If everyone in the world reached the level of Unconditional Love or Enlightenment, MAN what a place this’d be!! Both levels are utterly phenomenal. Read More …
A few months back I was on a plane to Chicago. As we soared through the air at 35,000 feet, the sun was bright and intense with no clouds obscuring its light. At this altitude, it was completely obvious that the sun shines continuously and there’s nothing we need to do to “find” the sun or “connect to” the sun. Just simply sit back, relax, and be with the warmth that the sun radiates towards us. Whether we were a good person or a bad person, the sun shines just the same.
Now as we started nearing our destination, we began our descent down into the windy city. On this day, the clouds below us were particularly thick, with no gaps in the clouds. The earth below us wasn’t visible whatsoever. There was this thick cover of grayish white cloudiness obscuring our view of the earth below.
Our descent continued and the plane dropped more and more until we were just skimming the top of the clouds. Then we swooped down into them and noticed that our view of the sun’s direct light was changing as well. Sinking deeper and deeper into the clouds, it became apparent that we couldn’t really see anything at all anymore beyond the thick veil of white fogginess everywhere. There was still light around us, sure, but not really coming from anywhere in particular. It was a glow emanating from everywhere. The source was now obscured, essentially invisible even though its effects were visible.
Descending down even further, we finally popped out of the bottom of the clouds and a whole ‘nother world opened up below us. We could see land, water, buildings, vehicles, roads… What was always there but beyond our range of vision had suddenly popped into awareness.
But where had the sun gone? We intellectually knew the sun was now “above” us somewhere, but all we could see was this continuous blanket of cloudcover. That’s it. Just glowing clouds obscuring the light of the sun.
We need that sunlight. It gives us life-giving warmth and energy. If we were not getting enough sunlight, it would be absolutely silly to try and create more of it. The sunlight is already there.
What’s necessary is to dissolve the clouds obscuring the light.
When the clouds dissolve, the sunlight that was ALWAYS THERE naturally shines forth and is radiantly apparent.
Spiritual growth is just like this.
Instead of trying to become enlightened and reach this state of Oneness with all beings (which is actually the way things already are), simply let go of the veil of separation that apparently comes between you and all others. The veil is the reality created by your mind.
The reality is that God’s Love is unconditional ever-present. Like the light of the sun, it is always shining down upon the earth, no matter what. What’s necessary for us is to simply be open to receiving it, to let it in.
Don’t try to find God or find the sun or find spiritual truth or find enlightenment.
Of the many earnest, and how earnest, people we may observe reading, attending lectures, studying and practicing disciplines, devoting their energies to the attainment of a liberation which is by definition unattainable, how many are not striving via the ego-concept which is itself the only barrier between what they think they are and that which they wish to become but always have been and always will be?
-Wei Wu Wei
Just let go of all resistances to Love, of all false ideas about who you think you are, and what you will discover is that what you have been looking for has been here all along.
The biggest difficulty that I have had so far has been trying to reconcile a fully conscious lifestyle with the brain’s automatic conditioned responses. It seems like our brains have evolved to compel us to behave in an evolutionarily advantageous way. For example, if I hold my breath for as long as I can, eventually my desire for air will increase to the point that it overwhelms everything else.
How does the idea of enlightenment deal with these automatic responses? No matter how spiritually enlightened we are, we are still human. I think that the root of my difficulties is coming from the fact that I am hoping to see true reality, yet I also believe that our minds are hardwired to experience reality in certain ways that are beneficial to our survival.
Thanks,
B.
My Response:
Hey B,
Great question.
You’re absolutely right. No matter how enlightened “you” are, “you” are still just as human.
All awakening boils down to is realizing your true nature. Sure, Jesus still ate food. The Buddha’s heart still beat. Ramana Maharshi still talked with people. Nisargadatta Maharaj still breathed naturally. Adyashanti still has the capacity to think. David Hawkins still has the ability to hold an intention in mind and see it come into manifestation.
You see, it’s not about overriding your body’s natural evolutionary patterns, but recognizing that they are not you. It’s not about trying to force the mind to go quiet, but recognizing the mind is not you. It’s not about perceiving an alternate reality beyond the mind, but recognizing that the mind’s perception of what is is not actually reality. What is is just what is, not what you think it is.
It is possible to look, to simply look at something without mentally creating a whole story about what’s being witnessed. Witness what is without engaging the mind.
Upon awakening it is still possible to discern the difference between a snake and a bed, for example. One is safe for the body to lie down on. The other is not. It’s not like that capacity is lost.
What changes is the idea that “external” objects are in any way separate from that which I am. We are all recognized to be an expression of Divinity.
The mind is not capable of truly coming to this realization. It can only adopt this, or something else, as a belief system.
You’re right that the mind is designed to ensure our own physical survival, for the most part. However, the mind can only discern appearance. Is this food healthy or not? Does this situation look dangerous or not? It uses logic, reasoning, and past experiences as its reference, but very often what’s happening now is very different from what happened in the past. The mind is only designed to perceive what happened. It’s not designed to understand what will happen. This is an inherent limitation of the mind. Read More …
My friend Mike Elias sent me an excellent comment regarding yesterday’s post about my current personal experiences regarding fear of nonexistence.
It seems that Hawkins refers to fear of death and fear of nonexistence as very different obstacles. To completely disidentify from the sense of separate identity and dissolve into oneness (LoC 600) is one thing, whereas it sounds like existence vs. nonexistence is a much higher duality, like Void vs. Allness stuff, Jesus and Huang Po level (LoC 850).
Mike is absolutely correct. There is a very distinct difference.
To me, it feels “I” am going through the realization of the nonexistence of “me”, not so much a nonexistence of the whole world, of the void of nothingness. What’s left of “me” is fearing its own nonexistence, its death.
It does feel like the whole world is an illusion, but it is not of primary concern. The world seems like a magic trick, a grand cosmic illusion. It’s like seeing a magician saw a woman in half and knowing that in Reality she hasn’t been split in two, despite the fact that our physical senses would suggest otherwise. The physical experience itself is happening, but it’s not actually real. The world exists, but it’s not real.
Experientially, the dissolution of the separate self feels like a nonexistence of the separate self.
Awakening is lead up to by the realization of your own nonexistence. Read More …
Let’s round off this variety pack of topics, concluding Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
Fears
“So do you have any fear? Are you totally free?”
Fear, yes. Is it believed or taken seriously? No.
The mind and the ego still exists, but it’s not taken seriously, just the same.
Enlightenment Fixing Life’s Problems
The funny thing is that it was always thought that this would always be the end-all-be-all solution to all problems. Life would be perfect. Everything would magically fix itself. All “problems” would fix themselves..
You know… “Yeah, I’ll just go get enlightened and my problems will all magically be solved.”
NOT TRUE
What happens is that One realizes the true silliness of all that was thought to be a problem, and it’s no longer a problem anymore because it’s not actually real.
Nothing changes on the outside, no one magically appears, including any angels descending from the heavens. Only the Self says “Hello, here I am. I’ve always been here. It’s good to see myself again. I’ve been pretending I’ve been someone else. It took a lot of energy to do it. It’s good to be home.”
Nothing changes externally.
It is an internal shift from illusion to Reality. That’s ALL.
After the latest dark night of the soul that I experienced, a few days later came another temporary awakening to my true nature.
It was the total dissolution of any reality of a separate self, not only the separate “me” existing as an individual person, but the total disappearance of anything as a separate reality in and of itself. There was the realization of existence as only the One.
This actually happened an evening just before I headed out to a party with some friends. The experience that was had was absolutely incredible.
In the awakened state, there is only the reality of the infinite welcoming openness of Love itself. There is only the One, no others. In social situations, there is no social anxiety, fear, worry about judgment or approval, or the desire to do anything other than give and love, to be who “you” truly are..
See, fear only exists as a reality when there is another to fear. If there’s no one else in the universe, there’s nothing to fear. Literally. Fear only exists within a divided state of consciousness.
The experience wound up being a total connectedness, an infinite openness, and a joyful welcoming to be or do anything. Sense of humor is automatic and awesome for it is a natural characteristic of the One’s true nature.
After coming home from the party, “Ariel” sat down and started writing about the experience. Let’s share this experience with “you” now. Read More …
It’s funny how many of us turn enlightenment into some accomplishment to achieve, like earning a million dollars. “Just tell me what to do, what formula I need to apply in life, and then I’ll get to experience myself being enlightened!”
Yet it turns out that the very search for enlightenment is precisely what keeps us from realizing that we are already exactly what we are looking for.
The “task,” if you will, is not to go search for some goal “out there,” but to simply look within and realize our True Nature, of who you actually are.
The mind will never give us the right answer. It’s designed to literally “make up” answers through the power of our wonderful imaginations. It will make up a story that says we’re NOT enlightened and thus we must do something or go somewhere to find enlightenment.
What we are looking for is located somewhere beyond the imaginative mind, in the most obvious place possible: YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards enlightenment, unconditional love, and living a life of joy through Self-realization and proper application of the Law of Attraction.
When the Buddha came to the earth and began teaching his Dharma 2500 years ago, he basically began teaching a pathway to enlightenment. His 
When Jesus came down, 500 years after Buddha, he taught people to strive for a different goal which is easier for the masses to reach: Unconditional Love.
It’s not like that capacity is lost.
