High Indifference........FMW (for tom)

July 15, 2007

The High Indifference*

How SHALL I EVER DESCRIBE what transpired last night? It is utterly

baffling to language as such. At best, what I say may suggest

something, but can never communicate the Reality. It was neither an

experience, in the proper sense of the word, nor a logical

penetration, for both cognition and perception are hopelessly

inadequate either to represent or contain it. As the Infinite is to

the finite, so was that Consciousness of last night to the relative

consciousness of the subject-object manifold. I penetrated a State

wholly beyond the relative field, and also well beyond that Realized

by me heretofore. Truly, within the Infinite there are Mysteries

within Mysteries, Deeps beyond Deeps, Grandeurs beyond Grandeurs. Just

as in mathematics there are infinitudes of higher orders infinitely

transcending lower infinities, so is it in the Transcendent " World. Is

there no end to possible Awakening? Is there no end to the progression

of infinities? It may be so. I Know that I have found an Infinite

" World, and then another Infinite consuming the first. I can say these

" Worlds are, but I can place no limits upon the Beyond. Mystery of

Mysteries, reaching inward and outward, but ever Beyond! And from that

Beyond ever there come new whisperings of other imponderable Glories.

Ah! How little is this world at the beginning of the Trail, barely a

point in a Space of unlimited dimensions!

Let us try and see what may be said. After retiring last night I lay

awake for some time. My mind, instead of being calm, as has been its

dominant quality during the last month, was rather agitated. In

general, outer calmness of the mind is one of the prerequisites of

inward penetration; but last night the mode of Consciousness which was

unfolded, or was superimposed, or burst forth—none of these

expressions is quite right—was so strong that the state of the mind

was seemingly quite irrelevant. The agitation of the mind meant no

more than the dance of the atoms in a bar of steel that quickly align

themselves in regular and steady form when introduced into a strong

magnetic field. Last night I was taken up into such an

all-encompassing and potent Field. Enveloped with this greater Power,

the activities of the outer mind were but puny, insignificant, and

irrelevant. They were utterly devoid of any power to interfere. In

fact, it may well be that the mind needed its strength in active and

positive form to be enabled to stand by throughout the stages of the

deepening Transcendent Consciousness. Otherwise, it is likely that all

I could report would be a sort of inchoate Thatness. This

Consciousness had no marked quality that I would call Joy in a

differentiated sense, but, rather, It was a Higher Integration wherein

the Joy was but an incidental moment.

I first became aware of being enveloped in an extraordinary State of

Consciousness when I found myself seemingly surrounded by, and

interpenetrated through and through with, a quality for which there is

no adequate word but which is most nearly represented by calling it

" Satisfaction. " I do not simply mean that the State was satisfactory.

It was Satisfaction. The difference in the significance of these two

modes of expression is of fundamental importance. To say that a state

is satisfactory implies the idea of relationship or qualification. All

this is quite valid in the field of relative experience, but it

radically falsifies the essential nature of these inward States of

Recognition. The mark of these inward States is 'Identification' and

not 'relationship.' Despite the fact that my personal prejudice,

fortified by academic training, would naturally lead me to employ the

relative and qualifying form of expression, yet I am absolutely forced

by the actuality of the Consciousness invoked by inward Recognition to

employ the language expressing Identity. Further, when I employ the

term 'Satisfaction,' I do not mean merely an abstraction, such as a

state of being satisfied, but, rather, a substantial Actuality. It is

not satisfaction considered as a state derived from a concrete and

external experience or object. It must on the contrary be regarded as

a pure self-existence, a somewhat which could be bestowed like a

blessing upon objective and concrete experiences but that is not a

derivative from the latter. He who is enveloped in this Satisfaction

is in need of nothing whatsoever to satisfy him. The Satisfaction I

realized is a real and substantial Existence prior to all

experiencing. I experimented with this Satisfaction and found that I

could even effect the equivalent of swallowing It, and then felt,

specifically as in the stomach, the state of satisfaction something

like a nutritive value without the use of a material food. I have

never experienced any gross or material food that could even

approximate the sense of nutritive well-being that this pure essence

of Satisfaction actually did give me. But this nutritive phase was

only one minor aspect of the full Satisfaction. It was the essence of

aesthetic, emotional, moral, and intellectual satisfaction at the same

time. There was nothing more required, so far as desire for myself was

concerned, for at that time I had the full value of everything that

could possibly be desired. It might be called the culminating point,

the highest to which desire, individually centered, could reach. Only

in one sense did I find a desire that could take me away from that

State, and that was the desire to convey this new value to others. The

memory of the others, as yet left out, was the one unsatisfactory

element. This factor was enough to awaken the will to withdraw and to

remain, as long as necessary, outside the immediate Realization of the

State. I must confess that I know of no other consideration adequate

to awaken the will to forego it, once an individual has Known the

immediate Presence of the High Satisfaction.

Throughout this whole experience and the following more profound

state, the egoistic or subject-object consciousness was actively

present. It was present, however, as a witness on the sidelines, while

all about and through and through there was an immeasurably vaster

Consciousness. Could I have asserted the egoistic will and withdrawn

from the State? I cannot give this question any certain answer. I

certainly had no wish to try to do so. The greater Consciousness was

more powerful than the egoistic energy, but on the other hand I had no

feeling of a will in It that would have been asserted against my

individual will to retreat from the State. It was as though, all the

time, the Higher Consciousness dominated the individual energy, with

my individual permission. Of course, I was more than glad to give that

permission, but I believe I could have withdrawn if I had so chosen.

There is one sense in which it may be said that I, individually, made

use of this Higher Consciousness but could have, had I so chosen,

abandoned myself to It completely and forever. Not so to abandon

myself was an act of sheer austerity.

Through the continued presence of the egoistic consciousness and its

activity in recording in the form of thought as much as could be

comprehended from the State, it has been possible to carry much of Its

value into my ordinary reflective consciousness. Among other effects,

this had made possible the expression that is now being written down.

Through the presence of this value in the reflective consciousness I

am enabled to recognize in the expression of some others a reflection

of a comparable form of Recognition. Also, I am enabled to understand

the Meaning behind the expression of such writers. Further, I retain

at all times in my personal consciousness a memory and understanding

relative to the Higher State that is substantially more than a sense

of a mere inchoate Thatness. One who entered the Higher State with the

relative consciousness completely paralyzed either would be unable to

return, or, if he did so, could carry into his outer consciousness

only a dim adumbration of a something Other.

How long the state of complete Satisfaction continued I do not know,

save that it was for a protracted interval as measured in terms of

objective consciousness. But as time went on there was a gradual

dimming, or fusing, or being enveloped, on the part of the

Satisfaction, by another and considerably more profound State. The

only expression that reasonably well represents this higher State is

the term 'High Indifference.' Along with this was a sense of simply

tremendous Authority. It was an Authority of such stupendous Majesty

as to reduce the power of all Caesars relatively to the level of

insects. The Caesars may destroy cultures and whole peoples, but they

are utterly powerless with respect to the Inner Springs of

Consciousness, and in the domains beyond the river Styx they are as

impotent as most other men. But the Authority of the High Indifference

has supreme dominion over all this, as well as being the Power which

permits the Caesars to play their little games for brief seasons. The

Caesars, as well as many who are greater than they, are capable of

reaching only to some goal well within the limits of Satisfaction.

They certainly do not know the Powers lying beyond the utmost sweep of

individual desire. But there is such a region of Authority, supreme

over all below It, and this is the High Indifference.

In this State I was not enveloped with satisfaction, but there was no

feeling, in connection with that fact, of something having been lost.

Literally, I now had no need of Satisfaction. This state or quality

rested, as it were, below Me, and I could have invoked it if I had so

chosen. But the important point is that on the level of the High

Indifference there is no need of comfort or of Bliss, in the sense of

an active Joy or Happiness. If one were to predicate Bliss in

connection with the High Indifference, it would be correct only in the

sense that there was an absence of misery or pain. But relative to

this State even pleasurable enjoyment is misery. I am well aware that

in this we have a State of Consciousness which falls quite outside the

range of ordinary human imagination. Heretofore I have for my own part

never been able really to imagine a state of so superior an excellence

that it was actually more than desirable. And here I mean 'more' in

the best possible sense. " Within the limits of my old motivation there

was nothing that craved anything like this, and I do not find anything

in man as man that would make such a craving possible. Yet now, deep

within me, I feel that I am centered in a Level from which I look down

upon all objects of all possible human desire, even the most lofty. It

is a strange, almost a weird, Consciousness when viewed from the

perspective of relative levels. Yet, on Its own Level, It is the one

State that is really complete or adequate. What there may be still

Beyond, I do not Know, but this State I do know consumes all others of

which I have had any glimpse whatsoever.

The word 'Indifference' is not altogether satisfactory, but I know of

no other that serves as well. It is not at all indifference in the

negative or tamasic sense. The latter is a dull, passive, and inert

quality, close to the soddenness of real Death. The High Indifference

is to be taken in the sense of an utter Fullness that is even more

than a bare Infinity. To borrow a figure from mathematics, It is an

Infinity of some higher order, that is, an INFINITY which comprehends

lesser Infinities.

What is it that leads one on into this Level? As already shown, it is

clearly not desire. Further, the State certainly seems to be beyond

the limits of human imagination. Here we are in the presence of real

Mystery. Is it Nirvana? There are excellent reasons for believing that

It is something more than Nirvana in the simplest sense. Let us

consider this.

Nirvana, in the simplest and most customary sense, is not so far

beyond imagination as generally supposed. To be sure, Nirvanic

Consciousness cannot be expressed in subject-object terms and thus

must be approached largely through negative definition. But It does

have some marks that are partly understandable. It is a State somewhat

qualified by the terms 'blown out,' 'Bliss/ and 'Rest.' Most certainly

It is a desirable Goal for him who is weary from the burden of egoism

and the misery of world-consciousness. There is a stage in spiritual

progress such that the step of entering Nirvanic Consciousness finally

appears as a sort of temptation. I do not say that every man who has

reached the point where he may enter this State in a relatively final

sense necessarily fails of his best in so entering. With some the

state of soul-fatigue is so great that no other course is reasonably

possible. So no blame attaches to those who do so enter. But there are

some Men who reach this point with such a reserve of strength that

They can choose another course, and there are alternative courses of

superior dignity. But even for Them, Nirvanic Consciousness is

naturally highly attractive. But if They do enter Nirvana, They may no

longer aid suffering mankind, whereas by following a certain

alternative course They may be of the very greatest assistance, and

thus it follows that for Them Nirvana appears as a temptation. All of

this implies that here we are still within the field of conceivable

desire. Whatever course may be chosen, desire in some sense is active,

even though it is that lofty kind of desire that is born out of pure

Compassion.

This choice, induced by consideration of pure Compassion, is

everywhere in literature, so far as I know, designated as utter

Renunciation, and there is nothing said relative to any alleviating

compensation. I have for some time suspected a blind here, for the Law

of Equilibrium is universal in Its scope. Thus there can be no

exception in the matter of Compensation even on the higher Levels

where still, in some sense, differentiation remains. And there

certainly is differentiation so long as it is possible to speak of

Nirmanakayas * in the plural number. What, then, is this superior

Compensation?

* The embodiments of Those who have made the Great Renunciation.

The answer to the foregoing question is at last clear. Nirvana is

complete Satisfaction and the highest possible object of desire,

except that purely selfless Desire aroused by Compassion. Because the

characteristically human thought is of such a nature that desire, in

some sense, is absolutely essential to define an object for it, it is

impossible to place before mankind any Goal of aspiration higher than

that of selfless Compassion. Further, it is only the very best among

men, in the moral or spiritual sense, who are capable of being aroused

to emulation of the Compassionate Ones. Hence, the few words written

on this subject are dedicated to the Few. Compassion is the absolutely

final word of human goodness; in fact, It is a sort of God-like

goodness. There is nothing beyond that mere man can imagine as either

desirable or worthy of emulation. Beyond this the Sages have been silent.

But now We will speak further.*

*Note these words. They came with that strange Authority of which I

have spoken. With them there was the cool, tingling and electric

thrill up the spine. At such moments I dare to speak far beyond

myself, in the personal sense, with a deep Knowing that it is

authorized. Right here is one of the Mysteries of the Inner Consciousness.

He, who can turn his back upon the utmost limit of individual desire,

comes within the sweep of a Current of Consciousness wholly beyond the

action or lead of Desire. Human vocabularies afford no terms for

representing what governs or leads to movement or transformation Here.

But beyond the Great Renunciation is a Compensation that places Man

where He is Lord, even over the first Nirvana. It emplants Him on a

Level that is beyond Rest as well as beyond action; beyond

Formlessness as well as beyond Form; and this is the High

Indifference. He who abides on the Plane of the High Indifference may

enter Rest or Action at will, but He remains essentially superior to

both, since from that Level both these are derived. There is a

Completeness, superior to that of Satisfaction, from which

Satisfaction may be employed as an instrument and not merely stand as

a final Goal. So Rest can be blended with action and the Balance

remain unbroken. But the High Indifference unites much more, for in It

are blended, at once, all qualities, all dualities. It is the End and

the Beginning and all between. It is the physical as well as that

beyond the physical; It is Form as well as the Formless; It spreads

over and through all, not excluding time and space. It is the Desire

and the desire fulfilled, at this moment and forever. It transcends

all Renunciation, even the highest. Thus, the balancing Compensation

is fulfilled. Here, Knowing and Being are at once the same. Literally,

Here is the utter Fullness, beyond the highest reach of the imagination.

How long I continued in the state of the High Indifference I do not

know. I was long awake that night—well beyond the midnight hour—and

the state continued to deepen. Throughout the whole period the

relative consciousness remained present as a witness. The personality,

with the physical form, seemed to shrink toward a point-like

insignificance. The T spread out indefinitely like space, enveloping

and piercing through all form, so far as my personal consciousness

took note. So far as my thought could reach, there were no limits. I

was quite indifferent whether the body passed into the state commonly

called death or continued to live. Either outcome was equally

unimportant. The evils, strifes, tragedies, and problems of this world

shrank to an insignificance that was actually amusing. I saw that

human catastrophes, even the most terrific, were relatively all less

than 'tempests in a teapot.' There did not seem to be any need

sufficiently important to require the service of Compassion. But, on

the other hand, there was absolutely no reason why one should not

choose to be active among and for men. From the standpoint of that

State it seemed utterly impossible to choose any course that was a

mistake, or one that was better than another. There was no reason for

choosing to continue to live in the physical sense, but likewise there

was no good reason for choosing to abandon the body. The State was too

completely non-relative and too utterly absolute for any kind of

particular choice to have any significance. So, in the subject-object

sense, I was quite free to choose as I saw fit. I chose to continue

with the job, but from the standpoint of High Indifference there was

neither merit nor demerit in this. For There, both wrong-ness and

Tightness, as well as all other dualities, are completely absorbed in

the non-relative.

I moved about in a kind of Space that was not other than Myself, and

found Myself surrounded by pure Divinity, even on the physical level

when I moved there. There is a sense in which God is physical Presence

as well as metaphysical. But this Presence is everywhere and

everything, and, at the same time, the negation of all this. Again,

neither I nor God were There; only BEING remained. I vanished and the

object of consciousness vanished, in the highest, as well as inferior,

senses. I was no more and God was no more, but only the ETERNAL which

sustains all Gods and all Selves.

Is it any wonder that SILENCE is the usual answer to the question:

What is the High Indifference?

posted:

..b b.b.

July 15, 2007

I'm wondering whether he can apply this to his own life and achieve

that High Indifference toward me. I'm hoping he can. Then I can

leave him alone.

Nisargadatta , " .b bobji baba "

<Roberibus111 wrote:

>

> The High Indifference*

>

> How SHALL I EVER DESCRIBE what transpired last night? It is utterly

> baffling to language as such. At best, what I say may suggest

> something, but can never communicate the Reality. It was neither an

> experience, in the proper sense of the word, nor a logical

> penetration, for both cognition and perception are hopelessly

> inadequate either to represent or contain it. As the Infinite is to

> the finite, so was that Consciousness of last night to the relative

> consciousness of the subject-object manifold. I penetrated a State

> wholly beyond the relative field, and also well beyond that Realized

> by me heretofore. Truly, within the Infinite there are Mysteries

> within Mysteries, Deeps beyond Deeps, Grandeurs beyond Grandeurs. Just

> as in mathematics there are infinitudes of higher orders infinitely

> transcending lower infinities, so is it in the Transcendent " World. Is

> there no end to possible Awakening? Is there no end to the progression

> of infinities? It may be so. I Know that I have found an Infinite

> " World, and then another Infinite consuming the first. I can say these

> " Worlds are, but I can place no limits upon the Beyond. Mystery of

> Mysteries, reaching inward and outward, but ever Beyond! And from that

> Beyond ever there come new whisperings of other imponderable Glories.

> Ah! How little is this world at the beginning of the Trail, barely a

> point in a Space of unlimited dimensions!

> Let us try and see what may be said. After retiring last night I lay

> awake for some time. My mind, instead of being calm, as has been its

> dominant quality during the last month, was rather agitated. In

> general, outer calmness of the mind is one of the prerequisites of

> inward penetration; but last night the mode of Consciousness which was

> unfolded, or was superimposed, or burst forth—none of these

> expressions is quite right—was so strong that the state of the mind

> was seemingly quite irrelevant. The agitation of the mind meant no

> more than the dance of the atoms in a bar of steel that quickly align

> themselves in regular and steady form when introduced into a strong

> magnetic field. Last night I was taken up into such an

> all-encompassing and potent Field. Enveloped with this greater Power,

> the activities of the outer mind were but puny, insignificant, and

> irrelevant. They were utterly devoid of any power to interfere. In

> fact, it may well be that the mind needed its strength in active and

> positive form to be enabled to stand by throughout the stages of the

> deepening Transcendent Consciousness. Otherwise, it is likely that all

> I could report would be a sort of inchoate Thatness. This

> Consciousness had no marked quality that I would call Joy in a

> differentiated sense, but, rather, It was a Higher Integration wherein

> the Joy was but an incidental moment.

> I first became aware of being enveloped in an extraordinary State of

> Consciousness when I found myself seemingly surrounded by, and

> interpenetrated through and through with, a quality for which there is

> no adequate word but which is most nearly represented by calling it

> " Satisfaction. " I do not simply mean that the State was satisfactory.

> It was Satisfaction. The difference in the significance of these two

> modes of expression is of fundamental importance. To say that a state

> is satisfactory implies the idea of relationship or qualification. All

> this is quite valid in the field of relative experience, but it

> radically falsifies the essential nature of these inward States of

> Recognition. The mark of these inward States is 'Identification' and

> not 'relationship.' Despite the fact that my personal prejudice,

> fortified by academic training, would naturally lead me to employ the

> relative and qualifying form of expression, yet I am absolutely forced

> by the actuality of the Consciousness invoked by inward Recognition to

> employ the language expressing Identity. Further, when I employ the

> term 'Satisfaction,' I do not mean merely an abstraction, such as a

> state of being satisfied, but, rather, a substantial Actuality. It is

> not satisfaction considered as a state derived from a concrete and

> external experience or object. It must on the contrary be regarded as

> a pure self-existence, a somewhat which could be bestowed like a

> blessing upon objective and concrete experiences but that is not a

> derivative from the latter. He who is enveloped in this Satisfaction

> is in need of nothing whatsoever to satisfy him. The Satisfaction I

> realized is a real and substantial Existence prior to all

> experiencing. I experimented with this Satisfaction and found that I

> could even effect the equivalent of swallowing It, and then felt,

> specifically as in the stomach, the state of satisfaction something

> like a nutritive value without the use of a material food. I have

> never experienced any gross or material food that could even

> approximate the sense of nutritive well-being that this pure essence

> of Satisfaction actually did give me. But this nutritive phase was

> only one minor aspect of the full Satisfaction. It was the essence of

> aesthetic, emotional, moral, and intellectual satisfaction at the same

> time. There was nothing more required, so far as desire for myself was

> concerned, for at that time I had the full value of everything that

> could possibly be desired. It might be called the culminating point,

> the highest to which desire, individually centered, could reach. Only

> in one sense did I find a desire that could take me away from that

> State, and that was the desire to convey this new value to others. The

> memory of the others, as yet left out, was the one unsatisfactory

> element. This factor was enough to awaken the will to withdraw and to

> remain, as long as necessary, outside the immediate Realization of the

> State. I must confess that I know of no other consideration adequate

> to awaken the will to forego it, once an individual has Known the

> immediate Presence of the High Satisfaction.

> Throughout this whole experience and the following more profound

> state, the egoistic or subject-object consciousness was actively

> present. It was present, however, as a witness on the sidelines, while

> all about and through and through there was an immeasurably vaster

> Consciousness. Could I have asserted the egoistic will and withdrawn

> from the State? I cannot give this question any certain answer. I

> certainly had no wish to try to do so. The greater Consciousness was

> more powerful than the egoistic energy, but on the other hand I had no

> feeling of a will in It that would have been asserted against my

> individual will to retreat from the State. It was as though, all the

> time, the Higher Consciousness dominated the individual energy, with

> my individual permission. Of course, I was more than glad to give that

> permission, but I believe I could have withdrawn if I had so chosen.

> There is one sense in which it may be said that I, individually, made

> use of this Higher Consciousness but could have, had I so chosen,

> abandoned myself to It completely and forever. Not so to abandon

> myself was an act of sheer austerity.

> Through the continued presence of the egoistic consciousness and its

> activity in recording in the form of thought as much as could be

> comprehended from the State, it has been possible to carry much of Its

> value into my ordinary reflective consciousness. Among other effects,

> this had made possible the expression that is now being written down.

> Through the presence of this value in the reflective consciousness I

> am enabled to recognize in the expression of some others a reflection

> of a comparable form of Recognition. Also, I am enabled to understand

> the Meaning behind the expression of such writers. Further, I retain

> at all times in my personal consciousness a memory and understanding

> relative to the Higher State that is substantially more than a sense

> of a mere inchoate Thatness. One who entered the Higher State with the

> relative consciousness completely paralyzed either would be unable to

> return, or, if he did so, could carry into his outer consciousness

> only a dim adumbration of a something Other.

> How long the state of complete Satisfaction continued I do not know,

> save that it was for a protracted interval as measured in terms of

> objective consciousness. But as time went on there was a gradual

> dimming, or fusing, or being enveloped, on the part of the

> Satisfaction, by another and considerably more profound State. The

> only expression that reasonably well represents this higher State is

> the term 'High Indifference.' Along with this was a sense of simply

> tremendous Authority. It was an Authority of such stupendous Majesty

> as to reduce the power of all Caesars relatively to the level of

> insects. The Caesars may destroy cultures and whole peoples, but they

> are utterly powerless with respect to the Inner Springs of

> Consciousness, and in the domains beyond the river Styx they are as

> impotent as most other men. But the Authority of the High Indifference

> has supreme dominion over all this, as well as being the Power which

> permits the Caesars to play their little games for brief seasons. The

> Caesars, as well as many who are greater than they, are capable of

> reaching only to some goal well within the limits of Satisfaction.

> They certainly do not know the Powers lying beyond the utmost sweep of

> individual desire. But there is such a region of Authority, supreme

> over all below It, and this is the High Indifference.

> In this State I was not enveloped with satisfaction, but there was no

> feeling, in connection with that fact, of something having been lost.

> Literally, I now had no need of Satisfaction. This state or quality

> rested, as it were, below Me, and I could have invoked it if I had so

> chosen. But the important point is that on the level of the High

> Indifference there is no need of comfort or of Bliss, in the sense of

> an active Joy or Happiness. If one were to predicate Bliss in

> connection with the High Indifference, it would be correct only in the

> sense that there was an absence of misery or pain. But relative to

> this State even pleasurable enjoyment is misery. I am well aware that

> in this we have a State of Consciousness which falls quite outside the

> range of ordinary human imagination. Heretofore I have for my own part

> never been able really to imagine a state of so superior an excellence

> that it was actually more than desirable. And here I mean 'more' in

> the best possible sense. " Within the limits of my old motivation there

> was nothing that craved anything like this, and I do not find anything

> in man as man that would make such a craving possible. Yet now, deep

> within me, I feel that I am centered in a Level from which I look down

> upon all objects of all possible human desire, even the most lofty. It

> is a strange, almost a weird, Consciousness when viewed from the

> perspective of relative levels. Yet, on Its own Level, It is the one

> State that is really complete or adequate. What there may be still

> Beyond, I do not Know, but this State I do know consumes all others of

> which I have had any glimpse whatsoever.

> The word 'Indifference' is not altogether satisfactory, but I know of

> no other that serves as well. It is not at all indifference in the

> negative or tamasic sense. The latter is a dull, passive, and inert

> quality, close to the soddenness of real Death. The High Indifference

> is to be taken in the sense of an utter Fullness that is even more

> than a bare Infinity. To borrow a figure from mathematics, It is an

> Infinity of some higher order, that is, an INFINITY which comprehends

> lesser Infinities.

> What is it that leads one on into this Level? As already shown, it is

> clearly not desire. Further, the State certainly seems to be beyond

> the limits of human imagination. Here we are in the presence of real

> Mystery. Is it Nirvana? There are excellent reasons for believing that

> It is something more than Nirvana in the simplest sense. Let us

> consider this.

> Nirvana, in the simplest and most customary sense, is not so far

> beyond imagination as generally supposed. To be sure, Nirvanic

> Consciousness cannot be expressed in subject-object terms and thus

> must be approached largely through negative definition. But It does

> have some marks that are partly understandable. It is a State somewhat

> qualified by the terms 'blown out,' 'Bliss/ and 'Rest.' Most certainly

> It is a desirable Goal for him who is weary from the burden of egoism

> and the misery of world-consciousness. There is a stage in spiritual

> progress such that the step of entering Nirvanic Consciousness finally

> appears as a sort of temptation. I do not say that every man who has

> reached the point where he may enter this State in a relatively final

> sense necessarily fails of his best in so entering. With some the

> state of soul-fatigue is so great that no other course is reasonably

> possible. So no blame attaches to those who do so enter. But there are

> some Men who reach this point with such a reserve of strength that

> They can choose another course, and there are alternative courses of

> superior dignity. But even for Them, Nirvanic Consciousness is

> naturally highly attractive. But if They do enter Nirvana, They may no

> longer aid suffering mankind, whereas by following a certain

> alternative course They may be of the very greatest assistance, and

> thus it follows that for Them Nirvana appears as a temptation. All of

> this implies that here we are still within the field of conceivable

> desire. Whatever course may be chosen, desire in some sense is active,

> even though it is that lofty kind of desire that is born out of pure

> Compassion.

> This choice, induced by consideration of pure Compassion, is

> everywhere in literature, so far as I know, designated as utter

> Renunciation, and there is nothing said relative to any alleviating

> compensation. I have for some time suspected a blind here, for the Law

> of Equilibrium is universal in Its scope. Thus there can be no

> exception in the matter of Compensation even on the higher Levels

> where still, in some sense, differentiation remains. And there

> certainly is differentiation so long as it is possible to speak of

> Nirmanakayas * in the plural number. What, then, is this superior

> Compensation?

>

> * The embodiments of Those who have made the Great Renunciation.

>

> The answer to the foregoing question is at last clear. Nirvana is

> complete Satisfaction and the highest possible object of desire,

> except that purely selfless Desire aroused by Compassion. Because the

> characteristically human thought is of such a nature that desire, in

> some sense, is absolutely essential to define an object for it, it is

> impossible to place before mankind any Goal of aspiration higher than

> that of selfless Compassion. Further, it is only the very best among

> men, in the moral or spiritual sense, who are capable of being aroused

> to emulation of the Compassionate Ones. Hence, the few words written

> on this subject are dedicated to the Few. Compassion is the absolutely

> final word of human goodness; in fact, It is a sort of God-like

> goodness. There is nothing beyond that mere man can imagine as either

> desirable or worthy of emulation. Beyond this the Sages have been

silent.

>

> But now We will speak further.*

>

> *Note these words. They came with that strange Authority of which I

> have spoken. With them there was the cool, tingling and electric

> thrill up the spine. At such moments I dare to speak far beyond

> myself, in the personal sense, with a deep Knowing that it is

> authorized. Right here is one of the Mysteries of the Inner

Consciousness.

>

He, who can turn his back upon the utmost limit of individual desire,

> comes within the sweep of a Current of Consciousness wholly beyond the

> action or lead of Desire. Human vocabularies afford no terms for

> representing what governs or leads to movement or transformation Here.

> But beyond the Great Renunciation is a Compensation that places Man

> where He is Lord, even over the first Nirvana. It emplants Him on a

> Level that is beyond Rest as well as beyond action; beyond

> Formlessness as well as beyond Form; and this is the High

> Indifference. He who abides on the Plane of the High Indifference may

> enter Rest or Action at will, but He remains essentially superior to

> both, since from that Level both these are derived. There is a

> Completeness, superior to that of Satisfaction, from which

> Satisfaction may be employed as an instrument and not merely stand as

> a final Goal. So Rest can be blended with action and the Balance

> remain unbroken. But the High Indifference unites much more, for in It

> are blended, at once, all qualities, all dualities. It is the End and

> the Beginning and all between. It is the physical as well as that

> beyond the physical; It is Form as well as the Formless; It spreads

> over and through all, not excluding time and space. It is the Desire

> and the desire fulfilled, at this moment and forever. It transcends

> all Renunciation, even the highest. Thus, the balancing Compensation

> is fulfilled. Here, Knowing and Being are at once the same. Literally,

> Here is the utter Fullness, beyond the highest reach of the imagination.

> How long I continued in the state of the High Indifference I do not

> know. I was long awake that night—well beyond the midnight hour—and

> the state continued to deepen. Throughout the whole period the

> relative consciousness remained present as a witness. The personality,

> with the physical form, seemed to shrink toward a point-like

> insignificance. The T spread out indefinitely like space, enveloping

> and piercing through all form, so far as my personal consciousness

> took note. So far as my thought could reach, there were no limits. I

> was quite indifferent whether the body passed into the state commonly

> called death or continued to live. Either outcome was equally

> unimportant. The evils, strifes, tragedies, and problems of this world

> shrank to an insignificance that was actually amusing. I saw that

> human catastrophes, even the most terrific, were relatively all less

> than 'tempests in a teapot.' There did not seem to be any need

> sufficiently important to require the service of Compassion. But, on

> the other hand, there was absolutely no reason why one should not

> choose to be active among and for men. From the standpoint of that

> State it seemed utterly impossible to choose any course that was a

> mistake, or one that was better than another. There was no reason for

> choosing to continue to live in the physical sense, but likewise there

> was no good reason for choosing to abandon the body. The State was too

> completely non-relative and too utterly absolute for any kind of

> particular choice to have any significance. So, in the subject-object

> sense, I was quite free to choose as I saw fit. I chose to continue

> with the job, but from the standpoint of High Indifference there was

> neither merit nor demerit in this. For There, both wrong-ness and

> Tightness, as well as all other dualities, are completely absorbed in

> the non-relative.

> I moved about in a kind of Space that was not other than Myself, and

> found Myself surrounded by pure Divinity, even on the physical level

> when I moved there. There is a sense in which God is physical Presence

> as well as metaphysical. But this Presence is everywhere and

> everything, and, at the same time, the negation of all this. Again,

> neither I nor God were There; only BEING remained. I vanished and the

> object of consciousness vanished, in the highest, as well as inferior,

> senses. I was no more and God was no more, but only the ETERNAL which

> sustains all Gods and all Selves.

> Is it any wonder that SILENCE is the usual answer to the question:

> What is the High Indifference?

>

> posted:

>

> .b b.b.

>

July 15, 2007