: oneness-Mikael John

[Guest guest]

To answer some of John's queries and continue on with Mikail, this is what I have come up with esperientially.By historical origin, the requirement for the survival of life in physically separate units required acquisition and therefore the capacity for investigative processing of energy sources. This processing function then became identified as "I" by virtue of experiential subjectivity. The primordial source of life energy is independent of localization as units. The units assume themselves to be primary rather than merely expressions of a universality. The energy of life is a radiance from the field of consciousness, which is the mode of the Presence of Divinity that manifests in physicality as Creation. The capacity for Enlightenment is merely a

consequence of consciousness returning to its source, which is Divinity Immanent as Self.The ego/self identifies with its various functions and qualities and labels them by ownership as "me" and says that is "who I am". This results in the vanity of authorship, an error that originated during evolution as a consequence of identification with the experience of the senses. Thus comes about a typical conclusion that "I" itch instead of "the body" itches. The same error of authorship/ownership occurs with feeling and thoughts in that the witness identifies with the subject and the content of the experiencer.The experiencer function is an information probe that collects linear data and therefore is an "it" and not a "me". It is a functional processing unit similar to the senses of smell or touch. Thus, the Buddha spoke of man as having six senses instead of five and contextualized the brain as a sensory organ of

sensation, perception, and information processing.Once the evolutionary structure and function of the ego are understood, its disassembly is facilitated by the inner decision to pursue that which is real and eternal rather than that which is temporal, transitory, and ephemeral. When one has chosen the spiritual pathway, the question arises of how to proceed through ordinary human life now that one has a different overall motivation. It will be found that, as a consequence it is not usually necessary to initially abandon ordinary life but instead to recontextualize it. Curiously, the degree to which one values one's own life determines the answer. Those who see it as a precious gift do not wish to waste it on that which is trivial and transitory, for the demise of the physical body is an inevitable certainty. The pleasures of life can be accepted as a gift while rejecting becoming attached to them. In the past,

especially during the era of Gothic religionism, piety was equated with penance, guilt, poverty, sackcloth, and ashes. A more effective form of renunciation is to relinquish the projection of value onto the world and its overvaluation. Worldly success still occurs but is accepted with gratitude instead of pride, and humility allows continuation in the world without egoistic perceptual projections.Rejecting the seduction of the activities of the mind is it endless operations is the most effective and ultimate renunciation. Upon even casual observation, one sees that it is composed of an endles kaleidoscope of opinions, viewpoints, attitudes, preconclusions, assumptions, and prevailing social positionalities popularized by the media and glamorized by acclaim. Thus, the inner process is primarily one of de-energizing illusions rather than one of acquiring new information. Awareness is predominately revealing in nature

rather than a private acquisition. The Self is already aware of Reality and does not need to learn more about it."Divine ignorance" is a classic term that denotes the wisdom of humility. The mind, in and of itself, cannot discern appearance from essence, and thus the devotee learns to turn a deaf ear to thinkingness and focuses instead on the knowingness of wisdom from within, as revealed by the great teachers over long periods of history and reaffirmed as the Presence of Self. The problem with using the mind to discover thruth is that it often cannot tell the forest from the trees and instead focuses on problematic irrelevancies and extraneous diversions, such as, Did the Buddha "really" sit under a bodi tree?, Or, Where did Jesus spend his lost years? Did the Red Sea actually part? Is the crucial, eternal truth that would save mankind lost somewhere in a cave? Will the world end in 2012? Are the "end

times" here? Are UFO messengers here to save us, or to give us messages? The ego loves to fiddle with hypothetical conundrums and thus extends its attraction via fallacious pursuits. If they were of great value, they would have been mentioned by Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, or the great sages over the many centuries.The errors of specific content can by bypassed by aligning with primordial, inviolate spiritual principles that would avoid postulations as to whether God is angry, or whether wearing a beard or a hat is any importance. The ego is eventually canceled out by the Truth of the Self, and not by religious contention. The content of religious observances is of secondary importance compared to the intention because intention is independent of circumstances and irrelevant details.Study, concentration, and attention tend to narrow focus and emphasize content and details, whereas contemplation is aligned with the overall

field and its contextualization of significance, meaning, and value. The ego loves details and linear labeling. it likes stances such as, Isn't that awful? and has endless questions like, How come? Conflict is therefore of the ego, and harmony is of the spirit. the personal ego/self never runs out of drama and problems, which are invented as a tool of self-propagation. In its own defense, the ego manufactures "boredom" if precluded from excitement, but it still manages to remain center stage by wailing like a two year old who is not being entertained. To reveal the game of the ego, it is only necessary when one is bored to merely ask "Why am I bored?" this leads to self inquiry, which reveals the role of what has been termed the "experiencer".This was a favorite teaching of Ramana Maharshi who recommended posing the question, "Who am I?" the purpose of which was to direct attention from the experiencer to the

Source of Awareness itself, and thus lead from the self to the Self. Taken out of context, the famous quote, "Who am I"? may, however, lead most often to exploration of identity content or definition rather than to intuiting context. it might be more beneficial to ask "What am I?What" is impersonal aligned with the universal energy, while "who" is aligned with the personal and the linear.Spiritual work sometimes appears to involve anticipation of loss. Loss is a presumption based on the ego's perceptions and projected values. In general, the ego's loss is illusory and instead constitutes a gain to the Self. All ego positions represent vulnerability and pleasure in life. Eventually, one analogously feels bulletproof and independent of external circumstances. Even the survival of the body itself eventually becomes irrelevant for its transitoriness is accepted. Survival is not itself due to the ego's

motives and mechanisms. That is also an illusion. Survival is a consequence of the Self, not the self. It is only because of the Self that the ego is of service for the prescribed period of earthly time. When the ego/mind is silenced, life goes on autonomously, paradoxically even seeing effort as effortless. All comes about as a consequence of potentiality's emerging as actuality when conditions permit. Intention is such a condition. Eventually, even intention subsides as the will is surrendered to God, and only God.Fortunate is the seeker who has not been led away from the straight and narrow path by diversions and popularized attractions. People spend lifetimes searching for authentic teachings and become sidetracked by the seduction of attractive, glamorized aberrations from truth. These turn out to be fictional or romanticized fantasies that attract the naive person's inner child.

Spiritual fairy tales abound and impress the credulous for whom anything labeled "spiritual" is imbued with a magical glamour. To go through that stage is routine during initial, uncritical enthusiasm and exploration.The primary problem initially is the lack of awareness of the difference between the truly spiritual reality and the astral, paranormal, or supernatural domains. To the naive, these latter alternatives seem amazing and impressive. This is due to the discovery that there are surprisingly more areas for human experience than the strictly physical, emotional, and mental ones. Consequently, a "right-on" psychic reading is indeed impressive to an erstwhile, naive seeker or novitiate. It is also easy to become sidetracked by the seemingly astonishing wonder of the whole new dimension of possible realities. The majority of popular best-selling, supposedly spiritual books is actually fictional, and

their average level of truth is very low, as are slick appearing "spiritual" magazines that glamorize fallacious fantasies of "other dimensions" and so on. The paradox is that the appeal is to the naive seeker who has not yet mastered "this dimension" much less other fanciful ones. There are, of course, other dimensions and ultimate realities that are well represented by adepts, trance readers, channelers, psychics, clairvoyants, shamans, magicians, "masters", deceased celebrities, erstwhile guides, "teachers", guides, fortune tellers, card readers, astrologers, throwers of Rune stones, and more. To add to the glamour, many of these diversions have large collections of faithful followers and enthusiasts who are impressed and thereby influenced, as well as seduced, by the magical notion of the unseen paranormal. Also popular are ancient secret mysteries, UFO religions, primitive rites, magic symbols, crystals, incantations, energy

manipulation, and spirits from other realms.Classical spiritual tradition and integrous scripture do not refute the supernatural/paranormal, but warn "not to go there". The same advice is also prescribed by all true spiritual masters and enlightened teachers. The so called "astral-circus" was at its most influential in ancient Mesopotamia. The expertise of the adepts, many of whom are still the same as they were in that era, have perfected their skills over long periods of earthly time. Like an experienced expert salesman, they intuitively pick up on a vulnerability or a weakness, especially the proneness to glamorization. If such entities were indeed what they claim to be, they would have long ago evolved on to the celestial realms. There is no lack of integrous, reliable spiritual truth accessible by ordinary means. Thus, the seeking of the extraordinary is a trap for the unwary. An ego that is

"out of body" is actually just the same as an ego in a body, except that it now has the mystification of being physically elusive. Exploration of other dimensions can be facilitated and learned by induced and altered states of consciousness. The primary temptations are one of child-like curiosity. On the other hand, there are some entities on the "other side" that do not have any information that is not available by ordinary means (e.g, be kind to your neighbour).Supranormal qualities arise as an experiential reality when consciousness levels reach very very high as a consequence of the rising Kundalini spiritual energy field. These phenomena, classically termed siddhis, are the normal expression of consciousness levels that are beyond the linear. The student is advised to be aware that they are not personal and to merely witness the phenomena. By so doing, it will be evident that the phenomena are qualities specific to

the spiritual energy itself, they are not personal because they are not controllable by the person. The phenomena, on the other hand, can be impressive as one witnesses the seemingly miraculous events unfold effortlessly. The reason they appear to be miraculous is because of their being witnessed by the linear mind with its limited perception of cause and effect. The unfolding of the seeming miraculous is merely "normal" from a very very high consciousness perspective.Nonduality is like a radical reality in which everything is seen as the expression of its essence by virtue of its identity and that is an essential insight. All Creation, in and of itself, moves from perfection to perfection solely by virtue of its existence. Existence is already the fulfillment of potentiality expressed as the actuality. Form is a consequence of local conditions and is again the perfect expression possible under prevailing

conditions. All objections or doubts about the perfection of Creation stem from res interna/cogitans, which projects the hypothetical error onto the world.The state of Enlightenment is therefore the potential Reality that replaces the illusions of the ego's perceptual positionalities. Spiritual intention, effort, and decision potentiate the evolution of consciousness from the linear limited to the nonlinear Allness of Reality. Thus, again, intention activates the progress from possibility to probability to actuality.The body is a functional utility mechanism, and pleasure is not the consequence of bodily function but the gratification of desire itself. Similar gratification can be obtained in a hypnotic state wherein the body itself is not given a reward but only an image is suggested. The body is therefore a mechanism and not a source. With spiritual practice focused directly on the ego and its

experiencer function, the importance and identification of self with the body automatically diminish of their own accord. When meaning, significance, and value are withdrawn from it, the body-image sense recedes and only recurs when actually necessary (e.g. to sleep, eliminate, eat, hydrate, etc)The doors to war are often opened by pacifists who provide the rationale behind the appalling but fatal constructions by which reason becomes the tool of denial. For example, the intelligence department cannot protect the public because of the restraint of political ideologies that have been enacted as legislation. Sophistry is based on pseudo egalitarianism, mixing levels and misapplying concepts by means of ignoring context.One hears the statement that everyone is already "enlightened", by this it means that the Self is present and potentially discoverable as the basis and essence of ones existence. The statement is

actually an impossibility because it incorrectly defines the understanding of enlightenment, and it also presents the fallacy of the hypothetical. To be enlightened is to know the Truth, consequently, the statement that there is a knowingness of Truth in that which does not know the Truth is an incorrect statement. What could be said to be realistic about the statement is that the ultimate Truth awaits within to be discovered. If seen for what it really is, all languaging is a paradox because nothing can actually be as it is said to be. Revelation is a revealed knowingness. It is understood without words or concepts, such as "meaning" or "significance", which are merely abstractions. Neither the universe nor anything in the universe "means" anything. Its existence is its meaning. The mind is accustomed to obtaining, getting, deriving, or discovering meaning or information. In the state of

Enlightenment, all is self-revealing of its essence as its existence. Everything already is what it "means". Truth is the radical solution to epistemology. Ultimately, everything is knowable only by virtue of the identity of being it. The conundrums of epistemology can be solved only by the elimination of thoughts because all languaging is paradox. One can take any word and trace it to its roots. How does the word originate? From Where? Is the word the same thing as its meaning? By asking such questions, one is eventually confronted with the ultimate paradox of duality. The radical Reality is that to understand the essence of anything is to know God. One might say that all languaging is a substitute for God.George