Dear Ariel,
Ultimately, are we all “one” or are we separated individual consciousnesses? Will we still be feeling the difference and separation between “me” and “you” ?
Thanks,
TSS
Let’s talk about some of the main differences between the awake state and the asleep state as well as address two traps that keep one falling back into (the experience of) separation.
Asleep, awareness seems to be no big deal. You can be aware of awareness, but it seems like just another thing to look at like the floor or your thoughts. Nothing special really.
Awake, awareness is seen to be what you are, not as an identity like a parent or child, but as pure presence. Some say Presence prior to name and form, but this exists outside of time entirely, yet not separate from it. This aware presence is expansive, spacious, boundless, unchanging, and free. That which is seen by awareness is intuitively recognized to be not other than awareness and not separate from it.
Awakening is simply a movement of Consciousness. It is a moving away from the identification of being a separate one to the recognition that all of life is a flowering in Consciousness being revealed.
It’s possible to have the experience of vacillating between awake and asleep, something which Adyashanti refers to as a non-abiding awakening. Through simple trial and error and life experience, I’ve found there to be a number of ways to send yourself back into a state of egoic delusion. Here are two such examples:
It’s pretty cool seeing the different types of spiritual identities that we can adopt, thereby creating what we can call a spiritual ego.
I’m sure you can add to this list. 
Gangaji has a wonderful video on spiritual traps where she highlights these identities and points out that although we all do this at one point or another and that these identities are a door to freedom at the beginning, they eventually become a trap, and yet there’s nothing wrong with these traps. Instead of seeing them as a problem and coming from a place of right and wrong, we can simply rest in the recognition that they are what they are and drop the struggle. As she points out in the video below, when it comes to traps, be they mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual, there’s simply more than these traps, much more than that. When there’s an identification with any of these traps, there’s a lack of recognition of what’s more than that. That’s all.
This isn’t to say that these identities are valid or invalid, but rather that in essence, we are what we are, regardless of the labels and mental identities that exist only in thought and are added onto what we are. Have you noticed that you are what you are, regardless of whether or not you adopt any of these identities? They are all secondary, a product of the mind that attempts to make sense of things and play “catch up” by understanding what is already true.
The particular sense of self we adopt may certainly impact our experience, sure, determine what character and role we play, no doubt about it, for that’s basically its purpose, yet the reality of what we ultimately are in the truth of our being remains untouched by any of this, and in fact has no problem with any of this. From the perspective of our True Self, it just is what it is.
It can certainly feel like there is a separate “me” that exists and operates independent of the rest of existence, but that feeling is nothing more than the body’s way of saying, “If the belief in a separate self were real, this is what it’d feel like.” (That’s another little tidbit I picked up from Matt.)
Who is this fundamental “I” anyways who, like a chameleon, can apparently be or do or experience any of these things? Identification happens within consciousness, sure, but who identifies? Inquiry happens, but who inquires?
photo credit: Michele Catania
There is awareness. There is awareness.
For some reason there is the belief in the human mind that physical reality is what’s real, but it is nothing more than just a belief. It’s the illusion.
When awareness gets amped up and it’s realized there is nothing but awareness, the content that awareness focuses on feels so… empty and light.
Everything is nothing.
What’s the difference between physical reality, imagination, the dream world we visit at night, wherever we go after we die, locations experienced when astrally projecting, experiences that arise in deep states of meditation, and everything else?
The rules are different. Certain laws, like the laws of physics, may apply in one place and not another. Certain colors and forms and shapes appear in one and not another, but that’s about it. They’re all just different illusions appearing within awareness. They’re all like different movies that awareness can watch.
Awareness is.
and awareness is SO much more real than any observable reality.
Continuing on to Part 2 of this series of Ariel’s conversation with Abraham, we’re going to look at the idea of self-inquiry and realizing your true nature.
I just listened through my whole conversation with Abraham and am feeling ecstatic as a result. SO much was cleared up, so many of my misunderstandings were taken care of. It was mainly due to definitions, of using the same words to mean two different things, such as yesterday when I spoke about our differing definitions of Truth. I’m finding that BOTH of us are correct. The misunderstanding stemmed from the fact that we were simply using the same words to mean two different things. I will go into this more deeply over the next few days with examples so stay tuned!
I began our conversation by explaining to Abraham that as I was going within and inquiring as to whether I was this separate self of if I was truly One, REALLY looking within, Abraham responded that I was some of ALL of it, but in control of where the emphasis is.
THAT is the key point. That is money right there. 
It would be like a television asking, “What channel am I? Sports? News? Porn?”
We all laughed. 
I then continued and explained that when looking within, I’m finding that this idea of a separate self isn’t real and that what exists is Love and Peace and Joy and when Abraham says “follow your bliss,” that’s literally YOU that you’re following. I said that I’m finding that I AM Creation itself.
Abraham confirmed all of this to be true.
I continued to say that it doesn’t feel so much that there’s a separate self who’s creating, wanting to get into the topic of “me” being the Creator of “my” reality, but that I AM the flow of Creation.
Again Abraham agreed and then jumped in to point out that I said something was very close to one of the flawed premises as discussed earlier.
The thing is, “when you’re not being who you really are, there’s something ‘screwy’ in it” and, “there are a lot of human justifications for being this, but they’re all bogus.” The bogus justifications we make for feeling bad are all flawed premises. Being anything other than full of ecstasy and joy is the physical part of you being out of alignment with the non-physical part of you Abraham refers to as Source energy. The idea that this is necessary or just how life is is a flawed premise.
Last night I listened to an Adyashanti satsang called “The Three Phases of Awakening” and in his talk, he brought up some traps which really resonate with me, traps which I’ve found myself getting caught in.
The trap is that once you get a taste of the Absolute and realize that all is perfect, then who cares about the world of the Relative because it’s all perfect anyways. Who cares because it’s all an illusion? At this point, you even have the choice to sit back let the body waste away and not really engage the world because hey, it’s already perfect. What more could I do?
Let’s examine this together and see exactly what’s going on.
Many of us have a fear of death, yet there’s another fear that’s not talked about as often: fear of life. For some people, fear of life is even more intense than fear of death.
It’s like when we’re born, there’s all these bright lights, people pulling us this way or pushing us that way, lots of commotion, and then we get slapped. What an entrance. Perhaps there’s a part of us that says, “Man, I don’t like life. It was better before I was born. All of the sudden I’m suffering.”
It’s almost like some people don’t like life right from the get-go and this never quite heals.
This is a very common experience for people since life can be so unpleasant. Some people will try to escape life through drugs, alcohol, music, sex, food, sleeping, or whatever other distraction works for them.
Perhaps people get into spirituality with the hope that when they become enlightened, life will suddenly become magical and wonderful. It will be the solution to all my problems!
So they take this (inaccurate) idea with them, proceed down the spiritual path, and eventually they find themselves abiding in the Absolute reality.
In the Absolute, everything is as it is. Perfection is. What we call “real life” is seen to be totally an illusion and nothing really happens. Everything just is. It’s pure beingness. There’s nothing we could do to make life better or worse. Even the Hitler’s and diseases of the world are seen to be part of the perfection.
Now it is true that the world we live in is illusion and ultimately unreal, but there is still an element of experiential reality to it, is there not? It’s like, no matter how enlightened you are, if you get hit in the head with a hammer, it’s still gonna hurt.
The understanding that this world is an illusion and not real is an excellent instructional understanding, but there’s still a sense of practicality that needs to be integrated alongside this understanding. This is the part where we become “in this world, but not of it.” Rather than abiding in the Absolute as a way to escape the life of suffering, we recognize that All That Is INCLUDES the world of the relative, illusion or not. Read More …
The other day I was in a discussion among friends and the question was raised, “What is God?”
There were many good responses including God is good, energy, the creator, love, and so on, but none of them quite fit for me. Sure they all pointed to one itty bitty portion of that which we call God, but how do we know ALL of God? If I told you my name is Ariel, I’m male, and I like mangoes, would that be sufficient for you to truly know all of me? How could I learn all about you?
There’s gotta be more to the story… what is God?
What was my response to the question? Take off my shoe and set it down before us all.
“What is God? Let’s start with something simpler. What is this?”
“It’s a shoe.”
“Right, now what is a shoe?”
“It’s an article of clothing that we wear on our feet. It protects our feet and gives us style.”
“Okay, so that’s its role, yet to be worn is not what it is. To look good is not what it is.”
“It’s a stitched collection of material such as leather and rubber.”
“That’s what it’s made up of, but that’s not what it is.”
“It’s just a bunch of atoms. The atoms are made up of pure energy.”
“You’re right, but so is everything else. Those are just the building blocks. That’s not a shoe, but what makes up the shoe. What is a shoe?”
“A ‘shoe’ is a label that we apply to an item which meets certain criteria, like the ones discussed earlier.”
“That’s true. Is a mental label all it is though, or is there something more physical and tangible to ‘shoe’ than just a label and a set of criteria?”
We can go on and on, but what we’d find is that the best we can do is describe qualities and attributes about the shoe. We can point towards what the shoe is, but we can’t actually say what the shoe is.
We can give a whole collection of descriptions and stories about God, but that’s not what God is. God is not a story or a description to the same degree that you are more than just your story and descriptions. Read More …
This past weekend I drove up to North Carolina for a marching band shoot. (I currently live in Georgia and do a lot of photography events.) While driving in the car, I listened to the Sedona Method audio course. It really helps me become conscious of and subsequently let go of various egoic patterns. One of the things I love best about the Sedona Method is that it’s basically a program to systematically dissolve the human ego.
For the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of frustration present regarding my own nonexistence. See, it’s starting to sink in on a fundamental level that “I” really don’t exist, beyond just some hollow wise-sounding words, and there’s a certain amount of fear in this realization. There is a frustration in that there is not even a “me” to experience this frustration! It’s a very strange experience…
Now as this sinks in, all sense of location is also dissolving. Not only can I not find a “me” outside of thought, but I also can’t find a place where I, whatever I am, exist.
Sure, if you asked me, it could be recognized where this body that I have is, but that feels completely and totally irrelevant. It’s like if you asked where I am and I told you where my car was. That doesn’t have anything to do with me.
So not only can I not find a me and I don’t know who I am, I also can’t even find out where I am! 
Talk about frustrating!!
It’s truly shattering my entire sense of reality. Utterly. It’s a frustrating experience to the ego… and the ego I have is putting up a lot of resistance to this experience. All that can be done is to surrender, to let go of resisting. Read More …
