Some people advocate believing in God, believing that unconditional love is better than suffering, believing that we’re all one, believing that you are the creator of your own reality, and so on. These belief systems can all have very powerful and helpful effects in your life. You’re probably familiar with the power of the mind and how much of an impact it has upon the reality you experience.
At the same time, other people recommend looking past beliefs entirely because they limit your knowingness. This too can be a very helpful process, and yet it seems to contradict the other way of life which uses beliefs as a tool to really impact your life.
You can believe in your beliefs so strongly that you effectively become them, yet you are not your beliefs if you are not your thoughts. What’s the dealio? If we’re doing the whole spiritual thing, should we have beliefs or not?
Marie Levit, author of Healing God, recently posted a video about this subject, discussing how beliefs fit into one’s spiritual evolution.
The mind is designed to think in either/or ways. Duality. The mind thinks that it’s this OR that, not this AND that.
Is someone right or wrong? How ’bout both? And neither?
We’re either separate or connected or one. Which one is True?
There is a here and a there, or there is only a here. Is there here?
Could fear be a form of love?
Could the Devil actually be God?
Something can be something, or nothing, or everything, but not all simultaneously.
Is there really Truth separate from something called falsehood?
It seems as though awakening makes the mind have to face some impossible realities that are obviously and undeniably happening right before your eyes.
You are the space of nothingness that is full of everything, and they are not separate. Nothing and Everything are unified as One.
Individuality and Oneness
Individuality does not imply separation. A wave is not in any way separate from the ocean, but is the ocean itself, expressing itself as a wave.
There is no separation, and yet there is simultaneously oneness AND the infinite. Non-duality is NOT limited to just Oneness. That’s why they don’t call non-duality oneness. Non-duality means not-two, or not-separate.
It seems like the mind can get “stuck” in oneness, yet the One expresses itself in an infinite number of ways. In this, there is no loss of individuality. Everything is the One.
Any realization or understanding you must be willing to let go of, including Oneness. You must be willing to not understand or know a single thing. To have no idea what the Truth is. To be that simple and unattached to knowing.
You are the indescribable, and you are all descriptions. There is nothing that you are not, and you are that which you are not, except that you aren’t.
Beingness
How would you describe or visualize beingness? It has no qualities to describe. It just is. Is/am/are/were.. all forms of the word be. To be, you just are. Nothing else. No thing to describe. Just beingness being without any mental image to wrap around beingness.
Free of identity beyond simple existence.
Creation
You look at a plant and you see how Creation creates itself and recreates itself infinitely fast over and over, yet taking no time to do it. How is this possible?
Every thing is the unmanifest no thingness expressing itself repeatedly in a series of blips of time that doesn’t even exist.
You Are What You Are Not
God is All That Is. You are God. You are All That Is. Illusion and the dream state is God. Non-God is God.
Your thoughts are not what you really are. Yet thoughts are another manifestation of All That Is. Thoughts are All That Is. Everything is All That Is. Everything you look at IS the infinite. Thoughts are your true Self, the totality of what you are, as is everything else in All That Is. There are no “parts” of God. There is simply the unified totality even though there is the individual which is not the totality.
A is not B. Yet there is ultimately only one presence, both of which A and B are. Thus A is B, just different manifest expressions of the same One presence.
Your body is your mind which is your false self which is your true self which is the sun which is the stars which is your deepest passion… it’s all the same, even though it’s different. They are not two.
Creating the Impossible
You can experience the unreal by making it real in your own imagination and thus experiencing it. Have you ever seen someone completely misinterpret a situation and experience something that never actually happened except in their own imagination? This is the experience of the dream state people call real life. It’s all just a play of mind which is consciousness pretending to be mind, which is lila, the play of the Divine.
Because of this creative and imaginative ability, we can somehow experience separation up to a certain point, even though it doesn’t actually exist! Through the mind, we can create the impossible and make it manifest. “Anything is possible.” This is what the mind does. It makes up stories and descriptions to describe that which just is and has no description. The mind is a creative and imaginative story-teller.
The you you think you are is just another story.
Humanity
Paradoxically we can go through separation to realize oneness. All separation eventually does reintegrate back into Unity.
We can experience who we are not in order to realize who we really are. This is the summation of the human experience.
There is NOTHING wrong OR right with any experience, real or illusory. It just is what it is, all part of a larger scheme to bring us back to who we are, unless it does not.
When the wave falls back into the ocean and realizes its immense depth, nothing is lost. Awareness expands consciously to become more conscious of what it is, and always “was” and always “will be.” It just is.
The wave does not cease to exist when the ocean is realized. It simply realizes its own depth. The wave continues to happen, but it feels so superficial compared to the immensity of the infinite Self, yet the wave IS the infinite Self.
You are the impossible, happening, and you are not.
Surrendering the Need to Understand
The mind… can it even grasp Truth?
What if we just gave up trying to understand all this?
What happens when we finally get it that we can’t get it…
What if we let go of trying to understand, know, or realize anything…
It’s very easy to read some wise sounding words by an enlightened guru and turn their teachings into a structured belief system. Heck, that’s basically what happened with mainstream religions like Christianity and Islam, among others.
Jesus said this. Mohammad said that. Ramana said this. Buddha said that.
When we hear things such as “we are all one,” if that’s adopted as just a belief system, it may be “better” than another belief system given that it’s more supportive to life than the idea of separation and a helpful stepping stone along the path, it’s still part of the same game people have been playing for thousands of years: Accepting belief systems on hearsay.
The mind can be convinced of ANYTHING…
Eventually there comes a time when we’re ready to look beyond all beliefs entirely and see what’s been here this whole time. What’s always true, belief or no belief.
Every word you’ve ever heard any enlightened or unenlightened person say, it must be ultimately dropped as if it itself was the Truth. The words you hear are only pointers. Every “Truth” you believe to be true, drop it. If we’re honest with ourselves, when we buy into a spiritual belief system, we’re buying into our own chosen belief systems just as much as the Nazis accepted Hitler’s fear-based beliefs. It’s two sides of the same coin. Believing in love or believing in fear. It’s still belief.
We can rationalize it by saying it’s more heart-centered or it resonates with me more or whatever, but it’s still within the same domain of mind.
Waking up out of the dream state is about going beyond ALL belief systems. PERIOD.
Check out this video where author David Hawkins addresses exactly this topic, the difference between talking about and knowing the truth.
As my friend Scott Kiloby puts it, “Spiritual ideas are like heroin. When you get hooked on any spiritual idea (including oneness, enlightenment, meditation, presence, no self, awareness, consciousness, beingness or any other idea) remember that there will be a weaning off of that idea at some point. Liberation is about the possibility of waking up now to what is looking at all those ideas rather than believing any of them.”
I’ve found for myself that the deeper I go into my own journey, the more subtle things get. Everything other than direct experiential realization and inner knowingness, GONE.
It can feel strange letting go of ideas you’re certain are true, like the idea that you are a divine being or whatever, knowing that you’ll likely wind up coming back to the same conclusions that you already now have accepted. The difference is that you’ll know due to your own inner realization, not due to some accepted belief.
The realization is of what you really are is SO much different than any belief ever could be.
Beliefs such as “I am God” or “I am Love” or “I am that I am.” If it’s just a belief, throw it out. If you want the truth, throw it out. As totally valid and accurate as any mental concept may be, holding on to spiritual truths as beliefs does nothing but transfer you from one dream state experience to another.
If you choose to cling onto dead words, you may wind up like those who clutch onto their holy scriptures as if the books themselves were literally what’s valuable, not realizing that ALL of life is EQUALLY valuable, the sinner and the saint, the king and the peasant. Remember that whole unconditional love thing? This is why. Everything is equally the divine in expression.
True realization is a living Truth, hundreds of time more real than anything the mind could imagine or could ever be put down into words.
The mind doubts and believes. Who you really are just knows.
When you know, you KNOW, and you KNOW that you know. It’s not that you believe really strongly or it makes logical sense or it sounds like a good idea or it’s what I choose to believe because it works for me and gets me what I want. No, you KNOW because you ARE it. You come from expressing the Truth of your very being.
Again, there’s nothing wrong choosing to adopt spiritual beliefs. No judgment. Many people are choosing to play this game, giving All That Is yet another experience of itself. This is certainly a higher level than some of the alternative less conscious options available. Certainly. It has its place.
Yet for those of you who are ready to smash out of the dream state, DROP ALL YOUR BELIEFS. Everything that you’ve ever read, it’s just a pointer. It’s not the Truth.
Truth isn’t found by finding the right belief system or the right religion.
Do you think you’re God? You just are what you are, regardless of that thought. Who would you be without that thought that you are God?
Everything you believe to be the Truth, drop it. See what remains.
The separate self is nothing more than thought. It’s no more real than that. Realizing that a thought you used to believe in is not true and, in fact, never was, there’s a profound sense of liberation in remembering directly who you really are.
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.
I just read your last post about losing your sense of identity and your memory, and it made me wonder…how do you function in the world right now?
I mean, I’m pretty scared of experiencing what you talk about, simply because it seems that this would mean being unable to fulfill life’s obligations, like finishing college, or doing your job or being there for your family. Do you know what I mean? How does everything work out for you in your current state? I mean stuff like finances and relationships or doing sports, whatever…Does it all happen synchronistically or what?
Ariel’s Response:
Great questions! These are among the questions that seem to arise the most, both from others as well as my own mind when I bring up this topic.
Let’s put it like this…
What if I told you that you could allow yourself to do what feels natural and right without worrying about how things will turn out. Would that be liberating or frightening?
What if you one day found out you were a chronic over-thinker and, simply due to habit and comfort, you thought more than you actually needed to. You had simply told yourself, innocently but incorrectly, that all this thought was actually necessary. What if it turned out that your life unfolded much more effortlessly when you weren’t busy tripping over yourself all the time.
What if I told you that you could act in the moment without second-guessing yourself or second-guessing your actions?
If I told you that you didn’t have to constantly be worrying about the “what if’s” of life and could simply be yourself in every moment, AND that you would be totally supported in everything you did and that everything you needed would come exactly when it was necessary, would you believe that this is a viable and practical way of life?
This is a relaxation into the loving embrace of God, a surrendered trust into the arms of Creation.
It’s a frightening experience, at least the mind perceives it to be. Yet when I look at what’s happening, nothing of value is being lost.
It’s strangely being realized to be a tremendous blessing even though on the surface it may seem like I’m getting Alzheimer’s or something.
The memory I have is getting very difficult to access. It’s not really needed anymore and is falling away. What remains is conscious awareness resting in the present moment. When something from the “past” is necessary, it will be known. If it doesn’t arise, it’s not necessary. It seems memory is being replaced with simple knowingness.
What Are You Talking About?
People often ask me, “How are you?” the way many of us do as a common greeting, but I have no answer to that question anymore. No label adequately describes any experience. Does the word “happy” describe the experience itself? Of course not. No label ever does and so it’s not a valid answer. I just am. That’s all I can say.
People ask me how my day was, and I literally have no idea. Trying to access the memory is like accessing a blank void. If I look at my calendar, I may remember bits and pieces of what I did, but the past doesn’t seem very relevant anymore.
Who cares? I mean that literally. Who? There is no real self. It’s just thought entertaining thought.
No sense of self can be found. Ariel, nothingness, everythingness, silence, God, spiritual being, creator of your reality… whatever. These are all labels. They’re nonsense. They’re just thoughts. They’re not the Truth of my being. No label or description, no matter how wondrous, can be the Truth of my being.
WTF, mate?
I have no idea what I am, mentally anyways. I can’t describe what I am or explain it. It’s literally impossible. I can only BE what I am.
I don’t know who I am. I just am what I am, whatever that is.
There is conscious awareness resting in the moment. Pure beingness. No flashy “spiritual experiences” to cling to and create a sense of self around.
The mind goes quiet in this process as all answers to its incessant yet fruitless questions are rendered null and void, even though the mind is still frantically searching for something to grasp onto. The mind can’t wrap itself around what I Am. No answer will ever be it.
Only Silence and Presence remains as the eternal infinite nothingness of All. Existence itself. Impersonal existence.
Who Am I? I have no idea. There is no answer to that question.
The one who watches a play is different from the one who is up on stage, acting.
Consciousness is what witnesses the mind. Without consciousness, thoughts would simply be floating in a sea of nothingness. The mind is not aware of itself, nor can it be aware of itself. Consciousness is aware of all, including the mind. Thoughts within the mind are just thoughts which arise within the sea of Consciousness.
There can be a thought that arises such as “I exist,” but it is really Consciousness which is noticing that thought, not the mind.
You are the one who is aware of the mind, not the one who thinks.
When thinking ceases for a moment in meditation, you don’t cease to exist.
When thoughts bounce around from one subject to another, you still continue to exist just the same.
Before you learned to think and speak in the english language, you existed. You are not the verbalized thoughts in your head.
You are the one who exists independently of the mind. It is Consciousness itself that is what your true nature is, not the mind. You are not the mind. The mind is something the conscious you observes, just like everything outside of you in physical reality. You are the one who sees.
Similarly, it is said that you are a Creator. Thought has no power to create whatsoever. It is consciousness/awareness focusing upon thought that leads that manifestation. Awareness is the Creator. Thus it is said that what you focus on expands. That which you think about you will experience, not because thought itself is creative, but because thought is an object upon which awareness, which is the engine of Creation, can be focused upon.
Thought is the object. Consciousness is the subject. You are Consciousness.
You Are Truly Loved features content designed to guide people towards spiritual enlightenment, unconditional love, and inner peace through Self-realization. We Are All One.
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.
No, they exist in a subject-object relationship.