120. The Dynamics of Opposites or Duality

Creation is functional as wholeness. There are no opposites, and what is - is only what is happening. The mental conditioning that is responsible for dividing the experiencing of wholeness into subject and object, confines the subject to be limited to the body and this is just an illusion. Life loves to play the game of duality. Its a crazy game, involving huge suffering at a superficial level, as if the design of duality works on the focus of suffering.

Separation is already the start of the 'seeming' reality of opposites taking in, its roots. We are conditioned to believe that we are separate, meaning, we are separate form the world around us, in a simple way that 'what is not the world' is 'we' and 'what is not we' is 'the world'. We are the subject of the objective world. This is a myth, and when believed so, is the core cause of ignorance on which duality thrives. Thus begins illusion of a 'reality' subject is separate from its opposite, which is the objective world - from childhood until old age.

The cause of suffering, is the belief in separation, which leads further to more beliefs that 'opposites' can exist independent of each other. But this is a lie. All opposites are just an idea of focus at a part of the whole. To win a battle is to lose the war. To win an argument is to lose a relationship. To seek pleasure is to remain in pain. To seek happiness is to remain in unhappiness. What we want is our lack. But the wanting is the creator of the lack. the seeking is the cause of a lack. However we are conditioned to practice seeking one, as if its opposite is is not following us as a shadow to show up as reality in time. Even birth has death attached to it, separated by an illusory time. The cause and effect is not separable.

To win or conquer is to have control. Just like we wish the control to be with us, or we can say that we do not wish to be controlled, the other, also, being same in essence has to follow the same belief. It simply means to give rise to a situation that all want to control but not body wants to be controlled. How is it possible?. To win over the other, seems healthy for you, but is surely unhealthy for the other. In this creation, where me and other is just an illusion, this rule ends in a failure. Creation has its base in harmony and happiness, if understood correctly. The idea of using one to the advantage of other, is bound to fail. The belief that opposites can be sought independent of each other is ignorance and is the cause of a resultant reaction, that we call suffering,

To come to an understanding, which is not a conclusion, but an energetic experience that 'one' is the 'wholeness' and separation is a myth, can result in ironing out most of our ignorant ideas of who or what we are and complete the process of the living experience in a harmonious and happy way. Life will offer may chances to conclude this aspect of living, but the mind, conditioned to be separate will forge itself into more separation by acting selfishly time after time. One day, when the burden of separation is not bearable, it could dissolve onto the ocean of wholeness. The earlier we ponder on this, the earlier we can let go of our ignorant beliefs and just let wholeness guide us to a simple and clear living.

So, what to do?. Just take every event is one's life and others too, to see how, the maintaining a limited self  has caused more suffering in the long run, and how being connected to each other, made one live a smooth sailing. Little by little, we can reverse our attitude of who we think we are, and be in that wholeness, to stay in a place where the world of aliveness of being connected always feels a better place to be. Bring about a change within, that would seem to take care of the ignorance that we are not separate but connected, will make a world of difference to oneself.

119. Cause and Effects pointing to the Truth

An effect points to its cause, as we imagine them to be. This idea comes to us, from Science. Science is based on this thesis. So whatever is discussed on manifestation of matter, from a scientific angle, takes into account, the answers to 'why's and 'how's and a record of explanation is maintained, until proved wrong. So when the research is done purely from the context of cause and effect, proved or disproved, the results are effected as correct or incorrect, but the premise is here to stay. This continuous activity, gives rise to, cause and effect being a 'fact', in the similar lines that -all that we experience from the point that, a 'me' to the body is 'real', or let us say, experience the world in duality, the 'me' is strengthened to remain in power as 'real'. So, in a way, we enpower the power of thought. It works in the objective world,  to some extent, to keep the game of duality interesting, but is not useful in the subjective analysis, of who we are, as some kind of absolute truth.
Let me give you an example. Let is take the correctness of  'Electricity' being an absolute fact. We dont doubt that electricity is something unknown. However we only see heat or light and magnetism as effects of electricity. No one can know what 'electricity' is. It cannot be known per say. We know all its effects, including that body gets a shock, and the multimeter can make measurements, based on its 'torquing' effects. But in general, electricity by itself, is just a name, that can effect all that was stated above. Some will say, electricity is an energy of some kind, and more and more discussion can be made around this. But finally, what is electricity? its a source, that generates all those effects, we discuss, including that it is 'energy'. But energy also should have a source. Similarly, we then ask, what is the source of electricity?. To this, we may or may not come up with an answer. Its stops as we arrive at its definition. After that, we draw a blank, because we invented the limit of sourcing. We may say, that one is stupid to ask questions about something, prior to its definition. So the definition becomes the source of an effect that is conceptualised. As if the word is the source and concepts are its effects.
So truth can be said to be the mother of all defined sources, prior to its definition, that were concepts. It is the sources of all causes, distilled from its effects. Because, each and every effect can be taken back to its cause, which being an effect can be reduced to its earlier cause and so on and so forth. Its like object to a subject. To know this subject, it must be made into object to its knowing subject, and can go on, into an endless regression. until one is tired of subjecting objects to subjectification.
Hence when we analyse cause and effect, to its root cause, 'you' may end up being the root cause of this universe, no matter what is being effected. In the absence of such a 'you', that you truly are, nothing can take place, to have an effect or its cause. That make a 'you' as the root cause or 'source' of all that there is, as an happening, called it's effect. So the effects are simply an expression of its cause. We can sense the effects, but they point back to its cause. They point back at 'you' as source to existence. If we are curious enough to get hold of the root cause, you would soon find 'yourself' dissolve as an effect, merging into its cause, as if the cause and effect could never ever be seen in separation. Such merging, of the sense of 'you' into the 'I' business, or the source of existence can be defined as 'Life', which should not need further objectification. Objectivity is an effect of Being, and what can be experienced is this objectivity, which you simply are not and what we truely are, if we should accept such a 'we' that is, is aliveness or 'knowing capacity, by which all creation can be known. So the idea that 'we' are an 'objective' entity to another 'objective' body is only 'knowledge' passed on in duality, and is here to stay, to let the game of duality be played in its own style, while its not true to identify ourself as limited to this body mind, and open up to the source prior to objectification.
So 'you' are the cause of this world and what is happening as an experience. 

118. Perceptions and thoughts

We perceive the world as perceptions. As some kind of 'knowing'. The visual knowing, the audible knowing etc. To communicate an aspect of such knowing, we put it in the frame work of 'knowledge' and describe the perception as an experience. This conversion requires some colouring of perception or discolouring, to match the general agreement of words or experiences of mankind. This helps communicate.

Thoughts are also perceptions.They produce an effect called feelings, emotions etc., which are its effects, and are like ripples of a thought. We agree that we perceive thoughts. But factually and actually, there are no thoughts. Its too subtle a perception, to 'find' its existence as a perception. There is somehow a knowing of 'something' as a thought. Its 'about' thoughts, that makes feel a thought, in the same manner, as about a 'me' that makes feel a me. We have no idea how perceptions happen to us and also how 'thoughts' arise. There is simply a bombardment in perceiving and thinking.

When we use language to say, that we perceive a perception, we create a knower and the known. This aspect called the known, comes about from adding knowledge to perception, as object to an apparent subject. Its 'knowing' perception, as an experience, in separation. In fact the experience is nothing but our knowledge which projects itself, as if, out there. The perceiving, kind of kindles out, the past, to bring out as a perception, as if a 'fact'. All knowledge is simply a general agreement and so is all experience of perception.

The original perceiving is very intense. The colours, the shapes, the sounds, the smell etc. If one had a good instinct to perceive, perception, as it were, it would be a very intense experience. So intense that the mind would be gasping for breath at the intensity, and forget to capture the perceiving in any frame of knowledge. The world of perception, unfolds that way, doing itself moment to moment. Grasping to understand the perceiving, has given rise to thinking or thoughts, which leads to concepts, ideas etc, that can be used as language, to be shared with others, and this brings about perception in multiplicity.

So, the thought and thinker are all, mental construct, obstructing pure perceiving, to generate a veil and bring about the perceiver as separate form the perception.  But at the root of all this is pure perceiving, that is so intense, that can block its interpretation in thoughts, and can leave you 'bare' as a non participant in the perceiving. Creation works like that, and then brings about thoughts to work in another way, that we call living. So it works both ways. One as a source and other as a reflection, a faint reflection, to grasp what is happening, while it is busy as source generating itself.

For some reason, once a while, life decides to perceive itself in its natural form, which is very intense and leaves one enjoying the beauty of creation, as the only true value, that could be.

117. Thinking Mind and Knowing Mind

How many minds do we have?

We don't have any, because the 'we' is a mental construct. Or lets say that the 'me' is a thought. The thought is a mental construct or is 'of' the mind. So at least there is mind. Or Mind IS.

We have a mind, says mind. One has to accept this reality, if one believes, that reality is always outside of mental confirmation, or a mental construct. Or else, mental constructs are pure imaginations or hallucinations.Life functions that way. Or we can say, life plays itself that way. Life is 'Gamer'. Its too powerful. As powerful as 'God'. So one can't take it to task, like an accused in the court.

So what is mind? Space where thoughts arise, would be a thoughtful answer. Seems so. We accept that as reality. The space where thoughts arise seems to be limited to ones body, as if it's not shared by another thinking mind. But many a time, when you think of some one, some one could think of you, as if the same thought is touching two or more people at a time. Like yawning, is not personal. Its impersonal. We brush this aside as a co-incidence. However, all is a co-incidence or none at all. Life cant work any other way.

But let's say, thinking mind is our psyche. It makes feels a person to the body. That's its game. I think, therefore I am. But the truth is ( if there is one ), "I think I am, God exists."  'Stephen Jourdian' was more accurate than 'Descartes' in that aspect. I am sure that both were sure of what they felt. That makes three of us, and the rest too.

But there is a need to get down to the basics. How do we know, what we know? By aliveness. By Life, or whatever. So since the hardware called body is not the instrument to know, and 'life' to the body, or the psyche, is what knows, we can term this 'intelligence' or potential, as the MIND. In capital. Its always more that the thinking mind. The Mind produces the 'mind' of the thought. We can also say that the thinking mind, is inclusive in the Knowing MIND. The Universe is the Knowing MIND. It knows itself.

What do we mean by Knowing mind or MIND. Its the space in which there is a knowing of all that there seems to be. Shapes and colours, smell, touch, sound etc etc, the five of them, the emotions, the pleasure the pain, the love and the hate, and whatever one can know. So MIND is a potential or life is the basis, that a knowing happens. There could absence of content to knowing, but never an absence to the knowing faculty itself. Even in death there would be a knowing of no content, but sadly, memory that makes the notion of a 'knower' will not come into play in the space of 'no content', as knower is an object or content, and the subject of which is the potential to know, or knowing as a 'verb'.

So the knowing mind, simply is that which knows what is happening. This cant be experienced, unless the mind develops a split to know itself. To experience is to understand. To understand is to split what is happening into an experiencer and the experienced. A 'me' and the world of objects. So the tool to grasp is generated. The thinking mind, the imagining mind or the grasping mind. There is measurement to know, as if object of knowing, or 'the grasp'. Opposites come into play. Comparison through memory arises. a programme to grasp is developed. Presences and absences need to be grasped. An absence cannot be grasped, unless it's made into a presence, by naming them in opposite. And a presence in separation, cannot be grasped, unless it is backgrounded by another contrast like space, that is basically a neutral absence. What is happening, is ever changing and cannot be grasped, unless in the background of stillness or 'Time" that is eternal, but imagined as a constant measure of change, that is a constant, or unchanging. So all this play occurs in the apparent small mind, making feel, as if individual to the body.

However, the small mind is an expression of the Big mind or MIND, and can be called off any time, by itself, as if by grace. If and when this happens, your experience will shift firm the small mind status to the Big MIND status, which is basically not an experience, but Life itself, a non-experience that is still in the knowing.

So hang on in difficult times, by knowing yourself to be the KNOWING potential, rather than the limited 'self' or the thinking mind, that is simply a notional. Just let what is happening, happen. You are simply the basis or the experiencing of it all, as Life or Infinite as the 'Potential' of knowing. All matter is non matter or only 'knowing' material, that is psychic. So hang on, just be.

116. Mental Activity,

Mental activity is a play, that can cut you off from the reality, that is unfolding around you.  You can only know the damage that it can do, when life takes over, as ‘your’ absence, and involves you in the grandness of its play, Or else, getting damaged also becomes part and parcel of 'living'. 

The mental activity, cuts you off completely and places you in such imaginary world, that makes one difficult, even to be aware of one’s own stupidity, even while others keep pushing you to be get back to normal use of mind. This is an everyday play of human living, getting deteriorated day by day, by making the mental activity, take over your usable intellect or presence of mind, there by leading a deteriorated life style, full of unhappiness.Life starts to rot, in a way of speaking. Meaning, he will never be able to use his mental faculty to the fullest, or even to an average limit, which could shape his living in a fulfilled way.

Mind, is a precious gift of creation and we should use it, to soak the best of what life offers, rather than push life to make your mental activity take over the 'beingness' that you are, to a imaginary world, that you think, is hell. Its next to impossible, unless by grace, to move out of habitual thinking. But when we are eager to use the mind properly, it can steer oneself to play with it, and progress towards what best it can do.

Various examples could be illustrated of how the mind plays out, when it deteriorates or rots, because of not using the mind, for the best results. One small episode that I witnessed was as follows:

I went to meet a client for some business. He was trying to put too much effort in imagining many things at a time. And the scene went forward as this. The purchase man, came in to show him a problem that occurred, where the contents of a consignment expected, turned out to be ‘cotton and leather’ instead of a 'printed circuit board'. A huge drama was taking place around the wrong content form supplier. They were calling up the supplier abroad and forcing him to see the point, which for obvious reasons, he was missing out. I was handed over the invoice to be privy of the mistake by supplier. What I saw was very shocking. None of the data on the invoice, belonged to that company. The consignor, consignee, consignment, were all 'not' pertaining to my client at all. I showed him that he was wasting his time with that invoice, as it did not belong to him at all, and must be put into the trash basket. I failed in my effort. The next few minutes, was spent in having my tea, and I was ushered out, as they had a serious job in hand to change ‘Circuit board’to 'Cotton and Leather'. God knows from where the purchase guy, got hold of that paper and linked it to their requirement. They must have been work the whole night doing what was unnecessary. Its a lesson, that one can do very little in dealing with other minds. Most of the minds are conditioned mechanically, as if one is robotic and only reacting to sensations. If reactions, do not happen, as per the bad conditioning, they could make the next 'thought' as the ‘source sensation’ and start up the conditioned reactions, resulting in neurotic thinking.

How is it possible, that one cannot see the point, even when prodded or forced? This is the main question. Human minds are not ‘shapable’ by other minds, in certain directions, which should help them unlatch from neurotic psychosis. Its only ‘shapable’ towards it. At lest it seems so.

Same is with ‘Life’  as ‘creation’ or the words of a GURU. Its screaming from morning to night, to see itself as a ‘non-dual play’ or illusion as compared to reality, and not reality as in ‘duality’ as we think it to be. One doesn’t notice it, birth to death. Its the same as the above case. 

Life must be playing this crazy game, because, the crazier it gets, the humorous it becomes, for life to enjoy itself in ‘duality’.  

115. Meaning of / to Life.

All there is – is Life. What is happening is – 'life' happening or an expression of life. But due to whatever reasons, the mind of an individual, feels incomplete, compelling him, to seek a purpose or meaning to his life. All this is only when, he has not much work to do, and is caught thinking, to find a way out of frustration.

When I travel to office, with full faith in the driving skill of the driver, and when the destination as to where to go, is clear to him, I sink into reading some script on my hand phone. It could be a news item or a mail. There is full engrossment into it. After a while when I look up, there is just scenes passing, and no reference whatsoever to those scenes nor to any reference of 'where' I am, with respect to those scenes. It could have been a stretch, that I have crossed a thousand times. But there is no meaning there, because nothing is sought in there. When there is a thought, to know, where I am, the functioning of the mind, to make meanings, kicks in, and it takes a while to link into memory, synchronise the events that are happening to memory, bring about a meaning to the scenes outside, and also a meaning to 'a me', in reference to where I am. It makes 'me', while it makes the 'outside world'. If you ask me, what is the experience while the not knowing of the scenes were, about myself, I may answer, that there wasn’t a sense of me, but it would be entirely wrong to make such a statement, because, one cannot make out, what is the absence of a sense of ‘me’, unless there is a sense of me. So its a paradox, and the statement just comes out, as a recorded answer, just to convince the questioner.

So with that analogy, I could clearly say, that unless life plays out a ‘me’ and the 'outside world, apart from me', there exists nothing there, to have a purpose or a meaning. At best the purpose or meaning of ‘life’ could be to play the game of a ‘me’ and the 'other'. This, of course, IT does all the while, and That too successfully, as if fulfilling it’s plan. So in a way, if you want to play any game, of being a doctor or an engineer or a husband and father etc, you have a chance to engross yourself, into that play, positively or negatively, as if the purpose was to 'sink' into an engrossment, meaning, loving what you do. However, it would be also something that is happening, at that point of time, without being conscious of playing out that way.

Meaning to life, is an idea. We imagine that ideas are real things to achieve, and can give us a sense of fulfilment. This is just another idea. It keeps you in an engrossed loop and time passes effectively. After a while, it seems unsatisfying and there is a change to what we would next do, to satisfy our role more and more effectively. For some, the game can become, playing a victim, and the world has suddenly played itself out, to take out all the meaning to one’s life. There is more struggle than normal, to be out of such a situation, that doesn’t exist, and one goes deeper and deeper into one’s own hallucinated world.

So, purpose and meaning of life is an unpurposeful search. Its like a pawn on the chess board, trying to seek the purpose of life, even when the player, that is using the pawn, to just have fun, playing out chess. The purpose there is not to save the pawn or kill the pawn, but to simply play the game out of the love for the game. When the game is over, all moves are forgotten, and the game is also forgotten.

So just know, that all there is –is life, and do whatever you love to do the most, depending on if such a thought arises there or not, without getting into what one should do or not do. No rules are right or wrong. All is done only to ensure that the reaction of such doing, doest hurt you or any other, and there is a sense of ‘being’ in the doing, seemingly purposeful. 

114. Knowledge and Reality

Knowledge is a set of ideas, passed on by human species, over the past, as if that this species, is knowledgeable.  All species have knowledge of survival. But human species, living in groups, need to do more than that, as if they were the most intelligent of all species on this universe. And so the game of duality is passed on, to make 'group survival' a part of creation, as 'reality'and it's here to stay.

Knowledge is based on ‘Logic’. Logic is a way to grasp what apparently exists and also what does not exist at all. Brightness and darkness are grasped as day and night. God, death, space, time, etc is grasped as an absence etc.etc. To achieve such grasping, the mind, which is a software by itself, programmes itself.  So it uses a concept called ‘ time’ to interpret change and uses another concept called ‘cause’ to interpret an effect. It even uses 'space', an absence, as a background, for 'forms' as 'things' 'present'. By doing so, ‘time’ and ‘cause’ become the initial reality, which are basically concepts of grasping or ‘logic’ forming tools or the foundation for experiencing the 'world' of objects. So we learn to question ‘why’ , as if it could have an answer and also ‘when’. All answers to such questions limit themselves with ifs and buts, and assumptions or presumptions.

Lets take electricity for an example. All of us, feel its effects only. The energy, the shock, the light, the torque, the TV pictures, the mobile sounds, etc etc. And we say, that all of has its source, in electricity. So we create electricity as an idea or a concept, as an ‘imagined’ cause or source, to all these effects. The ultimate source can never be known or experienced, because there isnt one, 'objectively'. Subject, being only a reversal of 'objects' therefore, goes 'out' with it. Only the effects will be known. However we learn to grasp or experience with the help of our knowledge, taking for granted that such a ‘thing’ as ‘source’ exists, in the way, we say, something should exist, and we experience ‘its concept’ rather than the source itself. The source is an absence. You cannot experience it. What can be a ‘content of experience’ in consciousness, cannot be the source. So we can never ever experience the ultimate source.  Life is the source of all that is, but only experienced as its ‘creation’ or ‘effect’ or what  is said to be ‘an expression of the ultimate source’, rather than the source itself.

Another simple example is the experience of the ‘sky’. We experience, what we know as ‘the sky’. It is blue in colour and is like the background for all that is above our head, not rooted to the ground. But sky is an empty space or an absence of objective matter. Then how does one experience that which does not exist?, simply by a mental inversion of absence to a presence. So we say that ‘space’ exists. We also give colour to something that doesn’t exist. This is the reality, imposed on us by the society, or science, or the 'past'.

So how do we experience, whatever that is, that we experience.  The mind has all the knowledge that has been passed on since generations. We know all that ever is, in this universe, to the extent that we experience them. In other words, we experience, everything though the help of knowledge. In the absence of knowledge, we cannot experience anything. What we experience therefore is the knowledge of the thing and not the thing. Knowledge of the thing, is the thingness to form. There is no other ‘thingness’ to any form. All forms are empty of thingness. We imagine that shape is the thing, by projecting the knowledge to what we ‘sense’, shape being a major share of the concept, and thereby experience the concept of the things, rather than the things itself.

No-one can ever experience a sensation without knowledge.  Even to say 'pain' to the sensation, it must have knowledge as its background. Or else, one would say, i am feeling something that I cannot tell, and so communication would end. 

Knowledge or concepts to forms, are simply our ideas about them, for purpose of experiencing the world. There is no other way we can experience the world of objects. Also there is no other tool, by which an ‘objective’ experience can be had. So all reality is simply the knowledge that we have about them and knowledge is not a solid thing. The ‘person’ to the body is also the thingness to this form, or simply a concept. So we project what we know of human forms and experience them as people. Thus reality is purely a mental exercise of grasping, and called 'the creation', that is based in knowledge. Knowledge by itself is simply an accumulation of beliefs, or 'general agreements' or 'society'.. Thus beliefs passed on by the society, tradition, culture etc etc, is knowledge. So 'reality' of the world is - 'the reality, forced on us', by society, tradition, culture etc. There is no other reality. The ‘ultimate reality or truth’  is simply a myth, placed on us by the society. There isn’t an ultimate reality. Even if there was, you cannot experience it, as it is a concept, outside of ‘knowledge’, as per the scriptures. So we seek to 'know' what is called 'unknown' or God. We would have to 'make up' fictitious concepts and experience such realities, calling them 'mystical'. Its a pure 'bullshit'.  

So we seek and seek until, it dawns on us, that there isn’t an 'unknown' or source 'to achieve'. And then seeking stops.  The sense of a ‘me’, as an individual to the body, is based in ‘seeking’ and this will also come to an end, whenever the seeking dynamics stops. It then dawns on ‘us’, that such a ‘thing’ called ‘me’, was simply the ‘want’ or ‘seeking’ to know, to grasp etc etc., that generated such a ‘seeker’ and the seeking & seeker was simply one movement.

Hence that clarity, about ‘reality’ being conceptual gets cleared. So the world is ‘unreal’ or conceptual. Reality doesn’t mean a thing. Nothing can exist, without ‘you’. This is the only reality, as if ‘you’ and ‘existence as reality’ or the 'world', are many names to 'one' ‘being, that is simply 'not' objectively. Its only a 'knowing intelligence' and plays out as 'being creation'.