Quantum Dialogue

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The following was received:

 

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The following describes the basis for Sharon Hart’s Quantum

Dialogue -

that is the eradication of misidentification through the

Light of Consciousness. Name points to Nameless.

 

Name Points to Nameless

 

As we begin to intellectually grasp concepts associated

with non-duality, oftentimes the “spiritual aspirant” will

shun one’s own name as a perceived identification as

object. To the extent that name is taken to point to some

grouping of personalities or conditioned sub-personalities

comprising the individual entity, this action can be taken

to reflect a degree of understanding. However this

viewpoint is from the lowest level. There is a higher level

of understanding from which to view the significance of

Name.

 

Generally speaking, we are given a name at birth that

remains with us throughout life (and ultimately beyond the

death of the individual body-mind). These Names are given

from a collective and deep intuition that who you are does

not change. There is the recognition there that from infant

to child to adolescent to adult, that aspect does not

change. The Love in which these names are given, points to

the recognition that this aspect is One and the same for

all of us. So, even though body, mind, personality, etc are

continuously changing, Name points to that aspect which

does not change - pure Consciousness, the One, the Nameless

(ultimately neither named or nameless).

 

Viewed in this way, your own name is as powerful a mantra

as any. This is beautifully put by Tennyson in a letter to

R. P. Blood:

 

“… a kind of waking trance, I have frequently had, quite up

from my boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has

generally come upon me through repeating my own name two or

three times to myself, silently, till all at once, as it

were out of the intensity of consciousness of

individuality, the individuality itself seemed to dissolve

and fade away into boundless being; and this is not a

confused state, but the clearest of the clearest, the

surest of the surest, the weirdest of the weirdest, utterly

beyond words, where death was an almost laughable

impossibility, the loss of personality (if so it were)

seeming no extinction, but the only true life … I am

ashamed of my feeble description. Have I not said the state

is utterly beyond words? …”

 

By associating Name with the body-mind entity or

personality (and a host of other “normal” human

activities), one attempts to impress the eternal on that

which changes and is temporary. In the same “breath” one

superimposes death on the deathless (this is a mistake and

error of extraordinary proportion). This activity, which

takes many forms, can be said to be the source point of all

bondage and suffering. But this is merely an illusion since

the Changeless cannot be changed nor can It be made to die.

This is misidentification (with a capital M if you like).

 

There is another way of looking at this that may be easier

to relate to, however it should be kept in mind that the

more detailed these concepts become, the less directly that

they point to the ultimate Reality. There is also the

danger that because these concepts are more easily related

to and understood, there may be a tendency to cling to

them, and thus objectify That which cannot be objectified.

In which case one has merely returned to the starting

point. The intent of these concepts is to free one of

concepts, not solidify new ones. With that qualification,

let us begin.

>From the standpoint of the absolute Reality, there is no

space, no time, no objects (gross or subtle). That

Awareness is unaware of itself in the sense that there is

no other background from which to make any distinction.

There is only Consciousness. From the standpoint of the

space/time-bound mind, space-time was created so that

perception of thoughts (subtle objects) is made possible

through extension in time and perception of objects (gross

objects) is made possible through extension in time and

space. But from the standpoint of the Absolute, nothing

ever happened since the Nameless is devoid of these

extensions (or limitations). In this “creation” there is

the apparent split between subject and object in which all

perceiving is made possible. And so, “things” are

experienced by distinguishing what they are not. So we have

duality - the awareness of “things”. If one of these

“things” were to become permanent, the awareness of it

would be extinguished with time. And so, duality is change,

guaranteed and fully warranted for the lifetime of the

individual. “Things” are more keenly discriminated by their

opposites, so the experience of a “thing” comes with its

opposite in some time and form (if you examine your

experience you will find instances where they come together

- inexplicable dimension and dynamic range of form and

feeling). And so, duality is the experience of opposites,

also guaranteed and fully warranted for the lifetime of the

individual.

 

As a child matures, he/she develops or is taught identity

as an individual. The very fact that this must be developed

points to the Truth of the matter. In this development, the

pure function of perceiving is replaced by the concept of a

perceiver and that which is perceived. As identity

progresses, the sense of separation is reinforced until the

concept of an independent doer of actions becomes rather

firmly implanted. At some point along this path, the

child/adolescent “buys off on” this concept or “state of

affairs” and makes the decision to play this game with the

world in spite of a still operational intuitive function

that registers illusion on the computer screen. Regardless

of whether this decision is made in an instant or over

years, the vast majority of us forget it. And so

involvement in life story develops into life struggle as

the game is replaced by a superimposition of and on Reality

(misidentification with a capital M). This is all so very

natural (or unnatural depending on the level of your view).

 

Now what happens? At the core of our Heart is a

longing/desire for the eternal and for happiness.

Ultimately these two are the same. As a result of the

misidentification (with capital M), the search for

happiness manifests outwardly in the world of objects. The

house, the car, the wife, the kids, the job, the vacations

… and so on become the objects of the desire for happiness.

Even the search for Understanding and Enlightenment is no

different. When an object of desire is acquired and

enjoyed, happiness is experienced. But in this happiness

there is no one that is happy; there is just happiness. A

most care-free and enjoyable condition. But as that

happiness fades you come back and say it was me that was

happy (and the cause was the object). Happiness is Being,

not being or becoming or getting any thing. It is

everyone’s experience that this object-derived happiness is

temporary. And so, like an addict, the search goes on for

that next object of happiness or pleasure. The me/mind then

decides what that next object will be. We ignore the fact

that the happiness derived from the object points directly

to the Source of Happiness that is the Self (there is no

such thing as happiness quanta that emanate from the object

to the individual). One is already that Happiness and no

amount of searching/becoming/getting can replace it. The

eye cannot see the eye and the Seeker is the Sought. This

is Realized when the concept of a me and the illusion of

independent doership are eradicated in Truth.

 

The longing and desire for the eternal manifest in a

similar way under the condition of misidentification (with

capital M). Nobody wants to die. Everybody wants eternal

happiness. And nobody wants eternal suffering and pain.

Under the condition of misidentification, however, the

eternal is projected or imposed on all of that which

changes (ie: the mind, body, personality, world, …).

Intellectually, of course, everyone will admit that they

are going to die. But even in this simple admission there

is the underlying intuition that this dying business just

simply is not the case. Yet our actions speak otherwise. We

always want something or other not to change. We will work

unceasingly to try to ensure “things” don’t change in a

world that is guaranteed and warranted to change

continuously. We attempt to build security and eternity out

of a world that is insecure and temporary in nature. And

all of that in the face of the fact that we already are

That which is changeless and eternal.

 

There has never been a doer of deeds. Many deeds have been

done but not by doers. There are many actions, but no

actors. Or as Wu Wei put it, “NOBODY HAS EVER DONE

ANYTHING, but innumerable actions have been performed”.

Many individuals have intuited this to varying degrees.

Einstein refused publicly to take credit for the

illuminations that led to his published theories. He

recognized that the illusory individual (a concept) was not

capable of such realizations, the source being unknown. The

me that was the individual called Einstein did not cause or

receive the realizations that led to the translated

theories. The most that can be said is the body-mind called

Einstein was the functioning agent through which these

realizations were translated (or through which the actions

took place). There was never a doer there and Einstein knew

it. This points to Grace. The Understanding referred to

here is the realization that there is no doer, that all

there is is Consciousness, and that nothing ever happened.

This is the complete and final absence of the me concept

(or illusion). In the absence of a me that could have ever

done anything, the only explanation for the event is that

of Grace (the illusion cannot rid itself of the illusion).

But the concept of Grace is nothing more than a pointer

itself to That which cannot be described, conceptualized,

named, thought, or experienced. The I cannot see the I, and

the Seeker is the Sought.

 

There are many ways to conceptualize non-doership that can

effect a transcendence of the sense of separation and a

kind of surrender to What Is. This acceptance, in the

ultimate, is completely open and unqualified. Picture the

Universe and all “things” as connected in a nodal mesh of

many dimensions. “Things” include all gross and subtle

objects (thoughts, feelings, ideas, concepts, etc.). Any

event involving a “thing” effects every other “thing”

through that nodal mesh that connects every “thing” to

every other “thing”. So the mesh network or Totality itself

operates as one in which the operative phrase is “you pull

a blade of grass and you shake the universe”. In other

words, nothing can happen independent of the whole of

Totality. So the whole mesh moves and vibrates as a single

unit without regard for any of the individual constituent

nodes. And all events are contained in this movement. All

events are this movement. Now, if this nodal mesh of

Totality is likened to a machine made of nuts, bolts,

washers, levers, belts… etc, it can be seen that the

individual parts cannot have independent volition. If they

did, the machine would fly apart and be no more. The

machine is so vast that the mind cannot comprehend the

operation of Totality so it appears that “things” are

chaotic, disconnected, and independent of one another. And

from this appearance, springs the notion of individual

doership and illusory control and volition. If it happens

that you are reading these words, it is not because you

chose to do so. It is an event in Totality that is

“dictated” by every other “thing” in Totality. Likewise,

the conviction that one is not the doer just happens, and

no amount of personal effort on the part of the illusory

separate entity can bring this conviction about. There

never has, is, or will be a doer of anything. There is only

What Is.

 

When one identifies Name with individual personality, one

identifies Self with the body-mind. As such, Consciousness

has identified itself as an object among objects in the

illusion of separation. The characteristics of the one are

imposed on the other in a neat switcheroo. This occurs in

the split mind which can only perceive objects. And so the

individual is identified as the one that everything good or

bad happens to. Add to this the fact that the individual is

not the doer, and you have a most potent brew for pain,

suffering, bondage and limitation. And all based in

illusion and misidentification (with the capital M). By the

definition of illusion it is unreal just as pain,

suffering, bondage, and limitation have no basis in

Reality. The only bases they have are as pointers to the

Absolute. Rightly understood, then, pain, suffering,

bondage and limitation are doorways and vehicles to the

Absolute.

 

The basic bottom line in Quantum Physics is that nothing

exists in the apparent universe separate from

Consciousness. In other words, Consciousness is the unknown

but determining factor in all that appears to exist. And

this, from the subatomic level through to the greatest

heavenly bodies in the universe. This puts primacy and

origin with Consciousness and none other. Nothing can exist

outside Consciousness. If this is understood and felt

deeply then you are taken to the Absolute where there is no

differentiation and there is no distinction. At this level

it is seen that Self is none other than the Source of all

apparent existence in the same way as described by Sages -

that is, objects are mere reflections of the Light of

Consciousness (or if you like: Nirvana and Samsara are

One). Reflections of and in Consciousness. Analysis of

these words will produce nothing. Understanding what they

point to is All.

 

Let’s drop down a level or two from that last heady

paragraph. Even a deep intellectual understanding of the

above is likely to produce fertile ground for this

Understanding to take sprout. If Consciousness is really

all there is then where is fear? If you get a glimpse of

“No Fear”, then the train is on the right track. If all

there is is Consciousness, then nothing is unknown because

nothing exists outside Consciousness. “Wait a minute”, you

say, “you just got through saying that Consciousness is the

unknown factor in all that appears to exist”. “Yes”, I say,

“and you are That”. When this is deeply understood, there

are no more questions. The eye cannot see the eye and the I

cannot see the I.

 

Many have asked “how can you measure this Understanding?”

The Understanding is not measurable because it is always a

whole and All. And yet there are many references (by Sages

as well) to level, clarity, pureness, etc. This can only be

addressed in an analogy. Consider a large holograph in

which the image is sharp and clear. If you break off a

small piece of the hologram, the image still appears in

full but it is less sharp and clear. If you draw the

analogy to Understanding, then all Understanding is always

of the Whole.

 

This is a very important analogy because it implies that

the Whole is always in the apparent part. This means that

your experience is always of the Whole - not of some

“thing” separate from other “things”. This further implies

that if you fully, and without reservation or

qualification, experience any “thing”, you are taken to the

Absolute. The experience is a consummation where there is

no judgment, no expectation, no analysis, no thought, no

reserve, no memory, and no-mind. It is the utter and

complete surrender to the What Isness of the Present

Moment. Any experience will do. It might be pleasure, pain,

deep thought, taste, smell, sound, touch, a beautiful

scene, an ugly scene, or even the deep contemplation of

your own Name. If you are fully surrendered to or consumed

by that experience, then you are consumed by the Whole and

taken to the Absolute. In that surrender and consummation

you have given up your concepts of the present moment for

Existence as the Present Moment. And That is All.

 

This last paragraph, as well as all of the words above,

describe the basis for Sharon Hart’s Quantum Dialogue -

that is the eradication of misidentification through the

Light of Consciousness. Name points to Nameless.

 

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We are the Nonduality Generation.

http://www.nonduality.com