Franklin Merrell Wolff:Commentary on Aphorism 4 Con.w/oObject

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4 ... When objects vanish,

yet remaining through all unaffected,

Consciousness-without-an-objectis.

 

Objects have vanished when they are no longer present to

consciousness as currently present, or present in memory, or finally,

present in imagination. The fact of vanishing is not affected by the

arising of other objects. Thus, vanishing operates as a principle,

whether it is complete or only partial.

Consciousness-without-an-object is the binding principle underlying

the progression and evanescence of states or objects of

consciousness. This binding principle neither develops nor

disintegrates. It is thus the invariant element associated with all

variation. At certain stages in the analysis of consciousness it

appears as though the invariant element were the pure Subject or the

Self, but at this stage the analysis has not isolated the subtle

distinction between pure Subjectivity and Consciousness, as such. It

thus appears as though the pure Self were a sort of permanent atomic

nucleus, which is persistent through all states. But, when analysis

is carried further, this notion is seen to fail. Ultimately, it is

found that the Self is derivative as well as the objective pole of

consciousness. Thus, there remains as the sole nonderivative

principle the Pure Consciousness Itself.1

Just as we must regard the presence of objects as a seeming, and no

more, so is the vanishing only a seeming. The nonderivative Reality

is unaffected in either case.

 

posted April 3, 2006..............bob