body of consciousness

~ Hugh ~ 4 Comments

to give yourself, progressively,
more and more and as best you can
to the felt Presence of the moment
is the yoga of non-duality.

the Emotion of the moment continuously outgrows itself in cascading waves, ever-changing, deepening in its felt expression of tranquility. freedom of feeling emanates outwards from the initiation into the non-dual understanding, from a genuine glimpse of imperturbability. this dance of the awakening body is rooted in the ground of Being, in the knowing that universal consciousness is our always-ever-present Self.

this very sensation, Now, is a doorway into the unknowable.

Pure Being is our constant non-state, it is what we undeniably are; and yet as infinite presence we have gifted ourselves this object-par-excellence, the body, which, in our quiet contemplation, guides us through life, functionality, happiness. each body, each seeming-being is a unique expression of the Presence we are. in fact, to call the body an object is perhaps diminutive, although doing so serves a worthwhile purpose when considering the primacy of the subjective consciousness…

…the body is: energy, motion, movement, sensation, it is Life, it is the poetry of Being – it is all that is non-static in and as consciousness itself. it is a living, growing, dancing expression of Being – not some dead heap to cast aside or ignore. if we demean the body in the name of some fascist spiritual ideal, we can be sure that our intellectualization leaves our life, relationships and activities dry, numb and inert – and we will be continually visited by our absconded feelings: the body will ‘haunt’ us, so to speak, until at some point we embrace the human instrument and live our understanding through and through its journeying in this world.

there may be resistance to simple feeling – perhaps at least partially since in our culture we are taught to live mostly in our heads, in thinking. nevertheless, feeling is the place where the rubber hits the road, where our spiritual understanding is put to the test. throughout daily living, in feeling the body as it is, we find for ourselves a constant mirror wherein we can notice where we’re really at. a lived spirituality is not found through hiding behind abstruse concepts and a personal storyline of ‘awakening’ or ‘realization’; it is in clear seeing, in the deep honesty of noticing our functioning and not retreating into fantasy, it is in the midst of life.

the word reality belongs to the universal consciousness that perceives life;
and life is the true body of consciousness.

changelessness

~ Hugh ~ Leave a comment

happiness is the experience of consciousness knowing itself, loving itself, being itself, perceiving itself. it is our ever-present nature, but may seem hidden by layers of belief in the mind; and so, a more immediately recognizable word for what we are is consciousness, because while we can seemingly deny that we are happy, it requires much more mental gymnastics to deny that we are conscious.

we know we are conscious, completely.

there are many realms of mind. layers of mentation tend to unveil themselves over time, progressively, the mind sinking deeper into its source and widening in its expanse. mind is motion, ever-changing and developing.

what we are is
changelessness;
formlessness,
shapelessness,
desirelessness itself.

we are not the products of consciousness,
we are That, and we are aware of its expressions.

mind and consciousness

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mind as objective experience can be subdivided into various elements, like various minds, or the function of ‘thinking’ specifically – but for most intents and purposes, ‘mind’ is an umbrella term for a collection of perceived objects.

for instance, your thinking mind is the collection of objects known as ‘my thoughts’.
or, your human mind is the collection of objects known as ‘my perceptions’.
or, a global-human mind is the collection of objects that appear as ‘all humanity’s perceptions’.

the limitations of all these definitions is that they are objects perceived by consciousness. in other words, no matter how you slice your definition of mind-as-objects, the primary limitation of it will be that it is perceived.

i.e. You, consciousness, are not your mind.

mind is perceived; consciousness is that which perceives it
mind is made of consciousness; consciousness is not made of mind
mind is a collection of objects; consciousness is the reality of them

mind-at-large is the motion of consciousness – and consciousness is its perceiver.

~

nothing that has ever arisen in mind (that could mean thoughts, sensations, mentations, perceptions – anything objective) has ever touched or stained or perturbed or affected consciousness itself in any way whatsoever.

but – and here’s the rub – although the word consciousness points to its referent, ‘I’ – the thought of consciousness, as well as the ‘I’ thought – are just that, thoughts. they are perceived. the mind is an objective perception, and that includes all its thoughts about consciousness. nevertheless, the consciousness-word is a good one, because it points directly home. it’s a true word, if any word could be representative of what we are, because it is one that expresses the fact that we are conscious – awake, present, and ‘here’, in the sense that consciousness is the ‘central core’ of anything that arises, it is the true reality of here-and-now.

we are consciousness, we are not the consciousness-thought.
the consciousness-thought/word is a helpful pointer and tool, but we perceive it.

freedom is to see ‘I am not my mind’ – through and through, beyond all its vicissitudes. this is not a demeaning negation of mind or of thinking, but on the contrary, a celebration of thought and objective experience’s true place as a reflection of our natural joy – a place which mentations assume when seen as secondary to the reality that perceives them.

it is not that there is nothing

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It is not that there is nothing.

There is something – here and now, present. Something undeniably is, or, in other words, there is reality to this.

This reality, present, here and now, cannot be known other than through direct experience – for what do we ever have or know but a direct experience of our own reality?

It is the same nameless Being we all find when we look: there’s no other show in town.

Awareness is the fact of experience. We cannot deny, at any moment in space or time, the fact that we are aware. Everything else is subject to relativity; never Awareness itself.

Our infinite and constant companion, closer than close, it is our real Self.

It is not that there is nothing, for there is reality to this.

an embraced multitude of Self-perceived form

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Listen to the world beyond name and form, and you will hear its quiet song –
as it sings to us, before it ever speaks of limits, of that invisible, infinite unknown…
Presence, Animator, unseen and unheard, is what we are, what Life is, the only Being that could be;
and its animation, life’s temporal creation, the infinite motion of That Which Is Free.

that which presents itself here in this world, the shifting mirage of seeming-to-be, is but Being’s embraced multitude of its own Self-perceived forms. it is an expansion out from an infinitesimal point, unthinkable by mind. no projection or mentation could accurately represent the source of itself; however, all projections and mentations are only, ultimately, their source-reality in myriad motion. it is the dance of the invisible, known to itself by itself: for this Knowing is what is truly primordial to all experience. it is pure Being – it is what is.

reality belongs to no realizer, there is no one to understand. the seeming personal development of spiritual knowledge (even if such a thing were possible) would be completely illusory – everything, always, is impersonal. there is no Buddha to be or become or sit like or to make friends with. there is only reality, and its events belong only to itself. this may seem challenging for the mind which is always looking for security in identity, but there is great joy in seeing the total impersonality of all arisings. there is no separation nor division, nor could there ever be from You, Your Self, Absolute Consciousness.

present moment perception seems divisible into world (perception) and mind (viewer location) – but all we know of mind, world, perceptions is objective. a collection of mentations seen from a personal POV, aka a mind, is completely perceived – therefore it cannot be the subject, only the medium through which the true subject perceives. world-and-mind (and body) are all on the same side of the equation: perceived mind-stuff. however, that which perceives all mind-stuff is consciousness, and where are its limitations? it is infinite, embracing and perceiving all its objects. an object cannot be known other than in Impersonal Knowing, other than as Impersonal Knowing, other than with Impersonal Knowing. consciousness is real, and verifiably so – it is experientially a-priori to know that we are conscious (‘prior to’ any mental projection or position or state). reality is conscious (as no thought, sensation, or sense percept has the ability to perceive). Awareness is real; reality is aware; there is only awareness. the seeming subdivision of awareness into constituent parts is mind-made (and body implied). first, somehow, we have a glimpse that our nature is infinite presence-awareness, then our mind is realigned along this new pathway, then our body is colonized in its feeling, then sense perception is seen as our Self too, then our actions and relationships are realigned in harmony. (it doesn’t happen in any one order, but for the sake of clarity it could be elucidated in this way). but, that is all from the perspective of mind! eventually all formulation, cogitation, mentation, projection, thought, word, concept-image must be offered to infinite silence – and nothing remains but peace and joy and any some-such impersonal arisings seen in celebration.

peace and happiness are the non-phenomenal experience of Being which streams through and into the phenomenal realm, rekindling the fire of enthusiasm. the experience of Peace and the experience of Consciousness are indistinguishable, as well as inexhaustible, for they are both words for the nature of what is. we share the same Peace nature, whether it is seemingly veiled by mind-stuff and body-stuff – or not. 

the path to the unveiling of natural Peace is to inquire into the nature of experience until the beliefs that generate psychological suffering are seen-through. a clue, always, is in what we mean by ‘consciousness’ and how, for instance, we think of ‘reality’ different than our ‘self’. 

suffering leads to investigation, leads to inquiry, leads to abidance-meditation, leads to expression. 

all the while, nothing truly changes to that which is.

Unnameable Perfection

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There can be a flow, a wave – a glimpse of the Heart in the silence of its Being – when the distinctive boundaries held between seeming-self and seeming-other are collapsed in a resolution of feeling…

Reality-as-itself, this knowing-being that knows and is Life, could be called Unnameable Perfection. Unnameable – because it cannot be given an appropriate title, when its depths are free, beyond language, concept, form and thought. Perfection – because it is never amiss: its created dance, and its supreme, simultaneous independence, is the unfoldment of cosmic beauty, without a flaw to be found.

We could call Love that which perceives experiences.
It is what is irreducibly real.
It is the the fabric of Being, of the One.

The absolution we long for is never in, as, or for the dreamed-character;
Absolution lies in the simple fact that only Awareness is Aware.

Knowledge (in terms of objects) is always formed in/thru the mind, the utilized channel of limited perceptions – but Knowing, if we extend its definition to include the non-phenomenal realm – is beyond, before, and prior to the access of mentation. ‘Knowing’ in this sense is the channel of Absolute Freedom.

the mind, the channel of limitation, can never know the consciousness that perceives it.
it is Consciousness that Knows both the mind, and Itself, through its Being-Nature.

Being Reality, Awareness Is.

nothing that disappears is lost

~ Hugh ~ 2 Comments

nothing that arises lasts;
but nothing that disappears is lost –
for there is only one substance in reality,
that of Awareness itself.

if there were more than one substance,
there would be more than one reality,
because the substance of the thing is the reality of the thing,
when you boil it down to its essence.

that there is only one reality cannot be proven through words
(though if there were more, would they not arise in a greater One?)
however, it is a suggestion to explore, to investigate, to muse over,
and to follow this deep intuition and enthusiasm,
that leads to openness, and to the possibility that –

everything and nothing,
formlessness and form,
Being and Existence,
are never opposed,
and always not-two.

our reality is unstained by separation:
there is no possibility of separate selves.
separation is simply a suggestion provided by a weary mind
collapsed under the weight of a simple conditioned belief.

in terms of That Which Has No Opposite,
we can but offer a word to the experience,
and a word is a pale object indeed
compared to what it stands for.