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.
We have also explored the ideas that the world you see in a dream in the brain and that there really is no phyiscal reality outside of you. Your imagination is, in a very real sense, just as real as this so-called “physical reality” that you experience. It is from this context that Abraham and I begin discussing the nature of Reality… whatever the heck that is.
What Is Our Reality?
You are vibration.
Look at a Television. Our TVs keep getting thinner and thinner, yet none of us are looking for the little men and their horses inside the TV that are getting squeezed in there. We accept that they are simply a vibrational reflection. It is a signal that’s being received and deciphered into a particular visual effect.
YOU (the separate self) are like that too, and so is physical reality!
The separate self is nothing more than a perception of vibration. That’s IT. It has no true substance, in and of itself.
When Abraham uses the word “reality,” they have to do so because there are so many people in agreement on it. Instead of implying that our reality is actually Real, they are simply choosing to “speak our language.”
Perhaps more accurately the word “reality” could be substituted with the words “virtual reality” or “perceived reality,” but using our word “reality” helps them bridge the gap between what we think reality is and how it actually is. It creates a sort of common ground.
Without the above understanding, it may seem as if we are talking about two different things. One person talks about reality as if it’s actually real, but another uses the very same word to mean something that’s just perception and nothing more.
So it’s not that anyone is wrong, but rather that they are using the same word to mean two different things. Hence the confusion. It’s a lot like when someone says “I Love You” to another, but both people have two different interpretations of the same word Love.
People talk about having a “spiritual awakening” and being a “conscious being,” but what does this really mean?
Awakening and consciousness are words that attempt to define the undefinable, so it’s only natural that there will be numerous definitions and descriptions of awakening and consciousness. Not only this, but the word means different things at different points along the spiritual path so not everyone is always talking about the same thing.
Some people use the term “awakening” to mean that I am awake and not being currently controlled by the ego. If I’m Present in the Now, I am awake, but this is only one stage in the process of awakening.
I actually use the word “awakening” to mean something very different. In my vocabulary, it is synonymous with “enlightenment.” It means to realize your true nature, not just intellectually, but to actually BE it. It is a radical shift of identity that involves the direct realization of the nonexistence of the “me” that I think I am. It is the direct experience of Oneness and Infinity/Nothingness as One’s actual Reality.
Let’s take a look at several different stages of awakening.
The following is not by any means an all-inclusive list, but it does highlight some of the common stages along the path to enlightenment.
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.
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.
Look at a Television. Our TVs keep getting thinner and thinner, yet none of us are looking for the little men and their horses inside the TV that are getting squeezed in there. 
People talk about having a “spiritual awakening” and being a “conscious being,” but what does this really mean?