Guest guest Posted March 18, 1999 Report Share Posted March 18, 1999 Hi Tim, > >Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj speaks of focusing upon "I AM," of holding >tenaciously to the sense "I AM." Also, "I AM" is a commonly used phrase >associated with nonduality that is assumed to be nondual in nature. But "I >AM" is still dual. "I AM" suggests an entity, and a state of being of that >entity ("am-ness"). If "I AM" can be true, then "I AM NOT" can also be >true. This is duality. "I AM" is dual mostly because of the nature of our language, which causes us to think in subject-predicate terms. Not all languages are like this. But that verb "to be" (am) is an unusual one - we mainly use it as a connector, to connect or identify the I with something else. I am a woman... I am a teacher... I am tired... I am going now... I am happy... I am angry... I am short... I am tall.. etc., etc... So when a person gets used to saying "I AM" without nothing connected, no qualifying words, that can bring about a change in awareness right there. A sense that all the things I might put after "I am..." are irrelevant to what I really am... and they are... they are all part of manifestation... but the root, the source, is unmanifest. > >Thus, let us take a step beyond "I AM." Let us focus simply on "I." That's okay for meditation, but to say "I" doesn't mean anything in our language. To say "I AM" seems to express pure existence... with nothing else, no qualifiers... There are NO words that can denote or connote or express or explain the experience of the unmanifest from which all manifestation constantly arises... the ground of being. I think "I AM" is about as good as we can do, given the nature of our language. "I AM" is more than just "a popular phrase." It was no accident that when Moses met divinity, he called it YHWH (usually written Yahweh). It seems to have meant "I am that I am" or "I am what I am." I think it was Moses' best understanding and expression (conscious or unconscious) of what he had experienced. >There >is nothing else. There is no state of being, no existence, and never was. In the unmanifest there is nothing... and everything... nothing in particular, everything in potential... pure potentiality, you might say... pure existence?... but there are no words... >The Self knows the Self as "I." Does it? I suspect that it takes the manifested consciousness to look inward and say "I am THAT." Or "I AM." Love, Dharma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 18, 1999 Report Share Posted March 18, 1999 At 08:45 PM 3/17/99 PST, you wrote: >"Ah Sam" <ah__sam > >"Nullification" --> by Tim Gerchmez > >Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj speaks of focusing upon "I AM," of holding >tenaciously to the sense "I AM." Also, "I AM" is a commonly used >phrase associated with nonduality that is assumed to be nondual in nature. >But "I AM" is still dual. "I AM" suggests an entity, and a state of being of >that entity ("am-ness"). (further discussion of "I" being superior to "I AM") > >Hi, > >I AM lost. > >"I" implies "NOT I" implies duality??? No - in the word "I," in the simple existence of "I" there is no duality. How can "I" be negated? There's no "hook" for negation to "grab onto." Think about the words "I AM." There is a subject (I) and a state of being (AM-ness). If there is AM-ness, there must be AM-NOT-ness as well. The word "AM" is the "hook" I spoke of in the last paragraph. Thus, the simple feeling or sense of "I" (not to be confused with the little ego 'me') seems purely nondual to this person. With just the "I," there is subject only. There is nothing there to negate. It's clear to me that "I AM" implies the possibility that "I AM NOT." But how exactly does "I" imply "Not I" when "I" is taken as the *UNIVERSAL* "I?" Keep in mind that this is only "my thing," and being on the path of jnana-yoga, I "play with" this kind of stuff all the time. But I find much more benefit in getting a "sense of" or "feeling of" *I* while meditating, than a sense of *I AM.* Sometimes first I will get a sense of I AM, which naturally progresses to I. I. I. I. I. repeated over and over, until even "I" is silenced, and there is the void. Anyone else? Tim ----- The CORE of Reality awaits you at: http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html - Poetry, Writings, Live Chat on spiritual topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 18, 1999 Report Share Posted March 18, 1999 At 11:00 PM 3/17/99 -0600, you wrote: >>Thus, let us take a step beyond "I AM." Let us focus simply on "I." > >That's okay for meditation, but to say "I" doesn't mean anything in our >language. *But that's part of the point!* Think about it - removing the lingual meaning removes the monkey-mind's ability to interject meaning where PERCEPTION is called for. The sense "I" can be a purely *FELT* sense, a complete and utter sense of UNIVERSALITY. "I AM" more often demands analysis (I AM? I AM WHO?), and thus engages the mind, and in my opinion makes a poor mantra or "object" of contemplation. >>The Self knows the Self as "I." > >Does it? I suspect that it takes the manifested consciousness to look >inward and say "I am THAT." Or "I AM." I don't know... if someone asked me, "Who are you," I would not normally be tempted to answer "I Exist" (I AM), but more likely to say "I AM myself" or "I am I" (which can be boiled down to simply "I.") >In the unmanifest there is nothing... and everything... nothing in >particular, everything in potential... pure potentiality, you might say... >pure existence?... but there are no words... The "sense" of *I* is not a word, but a sense of universality. Try it in meditation sometime before dismissing it... go from "I AM ALL" to "I AM" to "I" to silence (void) in progressive stages and see if it "works for you." :-) If not, great, if so, fantastic. I only offer what has worked for me in the hope that it will be of benefit to others, I certainly look for neither fame nor fortune in any of this :-) With Love, Tim ----- The CORE of Reality awaits you at: http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html - Poetry, Writings, Live Chat on spiritual topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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