Acceptance of What Is = Enlightenment

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY

Often when the origin story of the Buddha's experience of awakening is discussed, it is said that Buddha "attained" enlightenment. Creating the impression and delusion that awakening is somewhere "out there," apart from our present reality.

Of course, this is partly due to the constricting nature of words clashing against the illusion of time and space! However, if seen through, this illusory gap between events disappears and experience is continuous and unbroken, happening NOW!

It is said that Buddha, with determination, sat down and vowed to remain seated until he had realized the true nature of things. 

If I were to put this into a modern idiom I'd say that Buddha said "F##k it!" and gave up seeking for answers outside of his own mind. Bang - awakening!!!

SIMPLE MEDITATION, NO STRINGS ATTACHED

I believe that Non-Duality offers the ultimate explanation of the nature of reality, but it can and does leave us feeling isolated and defeated; being assured that there IS NO WAY to gain liberation from the suffering of separation, and that there is NOTHING that can be done to awaken leaves us with a deep sense of defeat. Buddhist teachings, when practiced (not believed, but practiced) bring a presence of consciousness that offers relief from the deluded mind that constantly buzzes and ruminates.

A simple practice like Vipassana, or Insight Meditation helps settle the mind - as thoughts are observed without engagement.

In my experience, any form of meditation; TM, Contemplative Prayer, Breath Meditation, and Silent Sitting Meditation, offer the best way to calm the mind and observe the thought patterns that usually control our thinking. Meditation for its own sake, without any expectation of gain is the best approach; letting the mind come to rest.

SIMPLE BUT RADICAL ACCEPTANCE

The experience of awakening is often given the "Hollywood" treatment; picturing the expansion of awareness as flashing lights, kaleidoscope visions, and blissful images. The reality is that awakening is quite simply the awareness and acceptance of life just as it is. When the mind's grasping for reality to be different than is calmed - there is a diminished sense of separation from everything. It is just THIS, LIFE as it is.

All of this is simple in concept - but almost impossible to perceive as long as the mind drives seeking and satisfaction of its own expectations. Meditation helps.

Just as material gain does not bring everlasting happiness. Meditation is not the path to awakening. But Meditation is a tool that helps the mind to find itself, and in that contentment is awakening and happiness.

Twice a day - for 20 minutes. Be consistent. Don't give up. 

REMEMBER: Don't meditate for a purpose - meditate for its own sake. Like breathing it doesn't have to be forced.

No Key, No Door

Religions want you to believe that they each have the only key to the door to truth about reality....but the door isn't locked!

I have abandoned formal religion after over 50 years of searching, seeking, studying and feeling as if I was incomplete.

For most of my life, and it may be the same for many of you reading this, I have been told, or read, that there was something spiritually lacking in my life. I came to believe that I needed to find a purpose for life; a purpose given to me by God. It was vital, I was told, and believed, that only by finding the way to God; which I thought came by belonging and accepting faith in the "TRUE" religion among all others. 

I began a spiritual journey - investigating different religions, seeking the truth through them.

I had swallowed the bait that I needed to "seek and find the truth." 

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

Some of the religions I studied - and joined - had beautiful and rich rituals and liturgies. Some were simple and plain, founded on silence and listening for the "voice of the Spirit." Some claimed unique authority to interpret scripture, others claimed that the authority of interpretation was within the heart and mind of the believer.

I invested (I could say "wasted") much of my life seeking the mysterious truth that existed somewhere other than where I was....I felt separated from the rest of life, convinced I was an eternal "soul," seeking reunion, or reconnection with God - the Source of Being. As time revealed a deep sense of dissatisfaction arose within me. My searching merely brought confusion and anxiety about destiny and purpose. Then, without any effort on my part I experienced, during meditation, a different kind of awareness and I awakened to a kind of personal disappearance!

THE "ELUSIVE" ME

I could not find the "I" that I thought I was?

It seemed that I was looking out through my eyes from somewhere in the front of my brain. Or, perhaps I appeared to be located at the top of my heart on the left side of my chest.

(I pause here to say that conventional usage of words and language fall short of adequately describing what appeared to be an experience that I had - when it might be more accurate to say that it was apparently consciousness experiencing itself THROUGH me!)

Although this "experience" faded from my mind, it left a deep impression in my understanding of a "self." From this point on I will speak of lower case "s" self, and upper case "S" Self to enable a more readable explanation of this extraordinary event. 

What has remained in my self consciousness is:

• There is the prevailing illusion that I am the chauffeur to my body. I speak of "having a body," "having a mind," or I feel pain in "my" arm or leg, as if I own them as an extension of myself. But even more strange than this experience is the awareness, somewhere deep inside me, of a nagging suspicion that I am not my physical self, and the even greater sense of longing to find out what is missing from me; what is it that prevents me from being the complete and self-fulfilled being that I believe that I "should be?"  I seem to have experienced a glimpse of my true Self.

• There is a re-collection of wholeness. I somehow think that I don't have it, but I strangely believe that I will recognize it as something very familiar when I experience it for the first time!

• This drive to wholeness, this search for a greater Self (big "S") can obsess us and tries to find relief through efforts of escape or pre-occupation; with religions or various pastimes, that either distract us from the suffering, or consume us momentarily - so we "forget" our selves (small "S") 

This awareness of a Self brings a kind of suffering to the small self. All suffering of this type is a symptom of the drive to end the sense of separation from the "Omnipresent-Absolute Consciousness" that the Hindus call Brahman, the Buddhists call Nirvana, and the Christians, Jews, and Muslims call "God." 

But, I found that this separation is an illusion. For the wholeness that is everything can never be less than complete. 

Our sense of a self that feels separation is a false conclusion that we draw from our egotistical mind that seeks to preserve itself as a separate entity. The ego is an elaborate "mechanism" that enables consciousness to experience itself - we mistakenly believe through lessons learned by habit and social conditioning that we are a separate instance of consciousness, rather than the mere observation of a part of the fulness of it. 

THE "WAVE" OF EXISTENCE

I have apparently awakened (although I believe I was not present in the experience!!!) to the true nature of reality beyond my small self's comprehension. 

We appear to "exist" as a wave on the ocean of consciousness - momentarily appearing as unique, then merging back into the ocean again.

After this event I became very interested in trying to define my apparent experience - it fit the general description of Advaita Vedanta or Non-Dual teaching. My small self wanted to pull me back in the delusory practice of spiritual seeking - I wanted to find the source of this "truth" I'd apparently discovered...my seeking reared its ugly head!

THE NON-EXISTENT JOURNEY HOME

In my research I found that far too many books, articles, and websites that approach the subject of Non-Duality or Advaita speak of "a path" or "journey" to awakening. My experience, it seems, has been to clearly perceive that there cannot be a path of ascent to true awakening. I will admit that it seems to be the case that achieving liberation from the illusion of separateness involves a process of seeking, practicing, and experiencing; which can appear to be gradual, or sudden depending on one's spiritual experience and accumulated knowledge. As others have described it: this is all part of the story that the mind, guided by the individualized ego, wants to cling to.

Of course, because of the limitations of verb tenses and language in general, we are limited in the ability to communicate the nature of experience from within the liberated mind. So, when we attempt to explain the nature of an enlightening experience that appeared to happen we are driven to use words that imply ownership of that experience, as in, it happened to me.

THE WORLD OF NON-DUALITY ALWAYS HAS ROOM FOR ONE MORE!!

This blog is yet another attempt to explore the reality of Non-Dual existence - an effort in unlocking the door to reality; a door that is not locked! 

There are countless so-called "teachers" and "masters" of Advaita, so why do I want to contribute to their huge body of work? I say that there's "always room for one more in Non-Duality," and it's possible that the experiences and concepts that I share may break through the illusion for someone, or help reduce the self-imposed suffering of endless spiritual seeking.

I'M NOT LIVING A LIFE; LIFE IS LIVING IN AND THROUGH ME

My self-imposed suffering of seeking began about 50 years ago! So I can't claim that my awakening was sudden when viewed in sense of time. But, my experience was and is, that awakening occurred when my consciousness shifted in what appeared to be an instant in time. I was here one moment, and in the next moment my personality broke apart; I could see that I was no longer an individual separated from the universe, but an individualized expression of the very foundation of universal reality. The idea that I needed to be reconciled to a distant God fell apart. It was an idol of my own imagination. God was no longer distant; it became obvious to me that I was not living life but that life was living through me!

Many things about reality became obvious to me:

• There is only one existence; experienced individually.
• Life is all encompassing - it never began, it never ends.
• Belief is both a barrier and a catalyst for realization of truth.
• I exist as part of everything, not apart from everything.
• Things have no meaning outside our interpretation.
• Evil, like darkness, has no absolute existence.
• God is Spirit - the foundation of Being.
• God is not personal, but can be experienced personally.
• I have arrived - realizing that I never left.....

".......the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” - T.S. Elliot