Silver-: I Am

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In a message dated 2/15/2006 8:25:57 PM Pacific Standard Time,

silver-1069 writes:

 

> You are like a blank piece of paper upon which the word is written,

> an untainted canvas upon which the painting is struck, an uncarved

> block of marble out of which the statue is chiseled, an unanimated

> cinema screen against which the motion picture is projected. You are

> blank, untainted, uncarved, unanimated and unmanifested potential.

> You are the changeless background against which illusory changes

> appear and disappear, unmanifested potential out of which actualized

> manifestations arise and subside.

 

L.E: Do you really sense that as life happens the the created does not affect

the uncreated. That it gives birth but does not care? Not like blank paper,

not like marble, not like a movie screen, but Life Substance that is alive in

its own way. And in that sense, the unmanifested potential and the forms that

come from it, that are immbeded in it are a unified Living Thing. It is not

like a picture on a blank screen, but something more organic and unified.

Totally alive.

 

Larry Epston

www.epston.com

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/18/2006 2:15:46 PM Pacific Standard Time,

Nisargadatta writes:

 

epston

Re: Silver-: I Am

 

In a message dated 2/15/2006 8:25:57 PM Pacific Standard Time,

silver-1069 writes:

 

> You are like a blank piece of paper upon which the word is written,

> an untainted canvas upon which the painting is struck, an uncarved

> block of marble out of which the statue is chiseled, an unanimated

> cinema screen against which the motion picture is projected. You are

> blank, untainted, uncarved, unanimated and unmanifested potential.

> You are the changeless background against which illusory changes

> appear and disappear, unmanifested potential out of which actualized

> manifestations arise and subside.

 

L.E: Do you really sense that as life happens the the created does not

affect

the uncreated. That it gives birth but does not care? Not like blank

paper,

not like marble, not like a movie screen, but Life Substance that is alive

in

its own way. And in that sense, the unmanifested potential and the forms

that

come from it, that are immbeded in it are a unified Living Thing. It is not

like a picture on a blank screen, but something more organic and unified.

Totally alive.

 

Larry Epston

 

 

 

 

 

Again, you comments catch my attention on an intuitive level and so, no, I

don't really sense it that way. First, I would say that the created IS the

uncreated and the difficulty may arise from the conceptual need to separate the

two. I do not believe that consciousness (the background) " cares " as we would

define the concept, nor do I believe it is alive as we would define that.

Life is a term that we've given to creation. I don't believe the concept is

meaningful beyond creation. Maybe 'existence' is more appropriate.

 

As I see it, consciousness creates out of it's potential to create. It's

simply one of the infinite potentialities that God is, and potentials tend to

actualize. There is no desire or purpose at that level. Rather than being a

blank slate, I see consciousness as infinite creative potential. This doesn't

mean that all things necessarily exist within consciousness but that all things

potentially exist. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from this potential.

It includes not just physical objects, but all thought and feeling, states

and perceptions. IOW, consciousness already IS all experience possible,

otherwise it would not be possible.

 

There is no other source for anything, and so it's not possible to

experience anything that is not already present as a potential experience in

consciousness. It all originates from this source and is simply 'played out' in

the

temporal illusion, and consciousness identifies with this illusory experience.

 

So, I would say that, even though consciousness creates these little 'plays'

that it witnesses, there is no experiential content going on that is not

already present as a potentiality in consciousness, and so there is nothing

that

can be added to it by way of the 'events' occurring. Now, we could say that

these unique experiences become something that was not previously experienced

in this particular sequence, and must therefore effect conscuiousness, but

we forget that time itself is part of the experiential illusion, and all

'events' have already occurred, along with whatever 'effect' we imagine those

experiences have on consciousness.

 

So, no, consciousness is not affected in any way. Whatever 'effect' there

is, has always been. Infinite potential always was, and always will be,

infinite.

 

Phil