Spiritual Practice

Losing it .... Inside the Dream

There is only One Awareness, One Life, One Aliveness. We are a manifestation of the One Life and not separate from it.

That which is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent is that One Life.

As Ramana Maharshi says

"The state of pure being, which is common to all and which is always experienced directly by everybody, is one's true nature."

Our essential nature is that. Aliveness itself.

It is the Aliveness of the Universe.

One-ness.

The Dream is the Dream of Separation - it is the dream of 'me', the separate individual human that has apparently lost the 'connection' to their true nature. It is the Dream of the incomplete one, the tragic, the one who needs to be repaired.

The spiritual path is the apparent journey back to your true nature and Oneness - or at least that is the 'story' of the spiritual path.

The actuality is that Oneness never left - it did not go away. Oneness and NonDuality cannot go away. How can the omnipresent 'go away'? If it left the current location it would not be omnipresent any more.

Our Nature is Awareness/Aliveness, which is Universal and non-personal.

Like the finger pointing to the moon, the spiritual teacher points to beyond the dream.

But is that the way it always works? Can the finger point further into the dream?

Does Awareness become Awake ?

Awareness is Universal and non-personal - there is no separate Awareness for each person.

Can Awareness, which is Universal, be 'awake', apparently, for one person and asleep for another. It cannot unless people are definitely separate individuals with their 'own perishable awareness', which is a perspective from inside the dream.

The essential nature of Awareness is that it is Aware. Awareness cannot be anything other than awake/aware. Awareness does not perish and it does not need to be awoken, revived, replenished, refurbished, reconditioned or remanufactured.

Achieving 'awakening' is the apparent goal of many people, but Awareness is always awake. The apparent movement from 'unawake' to 'awake' implies a movement from an unawake state (which does not exist) to an awake state . The achievement of 'my Awakening' is an apparency only.

One's true nature does not need to become awake - it already is - and the ego is incapable of becoming awake. That is the actuality. The Real.

The true nature of everyone is already fully 'awake' awareness.

After so-called awakening the true nature of everyone is fully 'awake' awareness.

Nisargadatta said

"You already are what you seek"

What has always been awake is re-cognised.

It has always been awake and that is recognised too.

Is there a 'my' Awareness - a personal Awareness ?

Awareness is Awareness - it is not personal, which means that there is no separation between so-called people and there is no 'my awareness', 'his awareness' or 'her awareness'. Not even a separate 'cat awareness' or a separate 'dog awareness'.

There is no separate 'global awareness' and 'individual awareness'.

The illusion of 'my awareness' lies solidly in the dream - the dream of the 'me' that owns that awareness. If we take awareness to be 'ours' then it follows that for other people it is 'theirs'.

Awareness is seen to be impersonal - in fact it is seen to be an action rather than a noun.

Are you aware? What you notice is that awareness is occurring in this instant - it is something that is happening. An occurrence.

Awareness is perhaps better described as 'awaring'. A bit like swimming (a verb) but applied to awareness. It is a movement, an action, a function.

Awareness is happening, is occurring and always has - but only in the present instant.

How can an action or movement be other than non personal?

Awareness is an action and not an object that can be owned, but that does not stop us assigning Awareness to our own individuality.

Assigning awareness to our own individuality is actually only a thought - or more accurately - only the content of thought. Nothing actually happens, Awareness does not become a possession of the individual in actuality. But the 'me' can say "It's mine".

The sense of self of the individual varies from day to day, hour to hour. When Awareness is assigned to the 'me' nothing actually happens, but a concept of awareness is assigned to the 'me' and that concept varies along with the other characteristics of the 'me'.

This brings about an apparency that awareness itself is varying. It is the concept of awareness held by the 'me' that is varying - not Awareness itself, which is universal and unchanging.

All along, Awareness is universally 'present', always occurring and always non personal.

As Nisargadatta has said

"Liberation is from the me.... not of the me."

Can Awakenings become deeper and deeper?

Awareness gets sliced into Awake Awareness and UnAwake Awareness. How possibly can there be 'unawake awareness' except in a dream, or perhaps a nightmare?

There are 'true awakenings' and 'authentic awakenings' and along with that untrue awakenings and inauthentic awakenings.

Then there is 'local Awareness' and 'non-local Awareness'. There is 'Mind Awakening', 'Heart Awakening' and 'Gut (Existential) Awakening'. And there is 'personal awareness' and 'global awareness'.

It has been said that there are awake trees, awake humans, awake mountains, awake rivers, awake canyons, awake hilltops, even awake streetcorners in your neighbourhood.

Add to that, there is 'an awakening', which appears to be different to 'awakening' and then there is becoming 'really really awake', which is a lot better than the other two.

Where are all these apparent Awarenesses and apparent Awakenings coming from ? Do they really exist? Are they for real? Are they legit? Are any of them legitimate?

Awareness is Oneness itself, full and complete in every way. Fully awake.

Awareness is non personal and it is Universal and Eternal. No divisions, no types, no exclusion, no favourites. All these apparent divisions are apparent only - they do not actually exist outside the dividing conceptual mind. They only exist in the dream of 'me'.

There is no Awareness that is getting "really, really Awake". It already is awake. There is no Beaufort scale or Richter Scale of Awakeness.

There is no "when I awoke". There is no "when I was not awake" either. Neither of those statements refer to Awareness. They refer to an appearance - what appears to be. They are personal statements that refer to what reality appears to be for the 'me' - i.e. it is imbedded in the dream.

Our true nature is present at all times - through all the bad times and through all the good as well. Awareness is there - being aware - aware of all the so-called good and of all the so-called bad without any filters at all.

Can Awareness which is fully and completely Aware be Awake at some times and not others? It is always awake. There is no occasion when it is 'unawake'.

Can Awareness 'truly awaken' ? It is already that.

Can Awareness 'authentically awaken'? It is already that.

Can Awareness become 'really really awake' ? It is already that.

Is there a 'heart awakening' ? Our nature is already 100% awake.

Is there an 'emotional awakening'?. Our nature is already 100% awake.

Is there a 'mind/head awakening' ? Our nature is already 100% awake.

Does the ego 'wake up' awareness ? Our true nature is already awake and the ego is an illusion that is not awake or alive and cannot wake anything up, even itself.

Can the level of awakening change - as in ' deepening awakening experiences' ?. It is already fully awake.

Can Awareness ever 'wake up' as in "When I awoke"? It is already fully awake, and there is no 'I' there to wake up.

Can there be a further awakening experience after the 'initial awakening'? Awareness is always fully awake - was so before the initial experience and was so before, during and after all further experiences.

Experiences are experiences - not the all-perceiving awareness.

Can Awareness ever go 'back to sleep'. It is always Awake and aware.

What does awakening mean ? It is a concept. It exists in thought only, as our nature is already 100% awake. What else could our nature be, other than completely awake?

Awareness is always Aware. There are no separate, individual 'awarenesses', or types of awareness, or levels of awareness.

Awareness is Universal, Eternal and impersonal.

The recognition - the clear seeing - of what is false (the belief that the 'me' is our true nature) is the primary barrier to the re-cognition of our true nature.

Our true nature is Awareness / Consciousness which is Eternal, Universal and non-personal. Our true nature is already present right here and right now and has always been so. It is complete and intact, undamaged, pristine and fully functional.

Are there States to Achieve ?

A 'State' is a condition of something - how it is - its attributes etc.

The so-called states sought after by spiritual seekers do not actually exist other than as experiences. This is because a 'state' is an object in consciousness / awareness and is not the all-perceiving awareness

Any state cannot possibly be describing Awareness. Awareness is that which perceives the state and is therefore not the state.

As 'Sailor' Bob Adamson has said

"The idea of enlightenment or self-realisation as a onetime event or a lasting and permanent state or experience is an erroneous concept.

Understand-ING or know-ING is alive in the immediacy which can never be negated.

The emphasis is on the activity of know-ING which is going on as the immediacy now--not the dead concept 'I understand' or 'I know'".

Our true nature is already fully awake and the ego cannot achieve anything. The ego is just a bunch of thoughts.

Awakening experiences are just that - experiences. They are objects in consciousness and that is all. They do not reflect the nature or condition of the all- perceiving awareness.

There is no one to achieve these so-called states. The ego is an illusion and our true nature is non personal - so there is no one there at all.

This means that any apparent achievement by 'someone' is a part of the dream. The achiever is a dream character - someone who is believed to exist, but does not.

All there is is Awareness / Aliveness - which are two ways of describing the same 'no-thing'.

Aliveness is an action, a function, a verb, an arising, a happening, a DO-ing.

The only separate 'be' is the one that we come to think we are - the 'me', the one that takes ownership of it all.

But it is only thought - nothing is actually there at all.

Do you have to 'Stay connected' to the Source ?

Stories of staying 'connected' and 'regaining the connection' are just stories.

The only so-called individual there to 'stay connected'' is the illusory ego - and 'it' cannot be connected or stay connected to anything.

The 'Source' means Awareness / Consciousness - you know - the Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient One. Oneness itself.

So how an attempt could be made to 'stay connected to the Source' is a mystery, unless the 'one' making the attempt is the 'me'.

'Staying connected' is specifically from the perspective of the damaged one, the one who feels separated, the one who needs help - the 'me'.

The separate individual , the 'me', who only appears to be, wants to regain the connection that was never lost.

Trying to stay in connection reinforces the underlying belief in the separation and the separate 'me'. It is a Catch 22 and reinforces the separation.

The nature of the 'me' is separation and division as it is the creation of the dualistic mind. There is not the slightest chance that the 'me' will ever 'be connected'.

Our true nature is Awareness, which is universal and non-personal - and cannot be anything other than 'connected'.

The re-cognition of our true nature makes 'connection' a non issue. The connection never left so trying to'stay connected' or 'reconnect' does not make sense.

An integral part of the re-cognition of our true nature is the Seeing of the false - specifically the one that we think we are - the 'me'

Do I have a ' Higher Self' ?

For there to be a 'higher self' as well as 'you' or 'me' there must be two selves. That is not possible - at least one of them must be an illusion.

The use of the term 'My Higher Self' refers to something that is separate from who you/we are'. It is a possession of the one who we think we are - the 'me' that has a 'my'.

We are not the one who we think we are - that one is a collection of thoughts and has no substantial existence of its own. There is no actual entity there to be able to own something or 'have' a higher self.

The actuality behind the concept of a 'higher self' is in fact our true nature and it is not 'higher', or remote, or only occasionally encountered - it is present 100% of the time as the Aliveness / Awareness that we are. It is 'living us' at this instant.

We exist and we are aware and that cannot be negated. Our true nature is directly experienced by all. It is 'living us' right now. There is nothing 'higher' about it.

Do I have to Cultivate Awareness ?

To 'cultivate Awareness' incorporates the belief that Awareness is already in a depleted condition and needing to be cultivated. It also includes the belief, articulated or not, that the Awareness that needs cultivating belongs to someone.

This is a perspective of the 'me', the one that feels that it owns that Awareness and needs to have it improved. In the dream of 'me', Awareness is Personal.

The 'me' referred to does not exist in any substantial way - other than the content of thought. The 'me' is a mental abstraction - the ghost in the machine. The 'me' cannot own anything except as having a thought whose content says that it owns something. Just like having it written on a piece of paper, except there is no paper.

Awareness is Universal, Eternal and non personal. It is our true nature.

Awareness does not have a condition or a state that can change and it does not belong to any 'me'.

Awareness does not need cultivating - it is already fully present.

As Ramana Maharshi said

"Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it."

What Power does the Ego have ?

The ego is a collection of thoughts that refer to a 'me', but there is no 'me' there - no 'me' at the core of it all. The ego is a self image - the one who we think we are - but it is not the Aliveness that is our essential nature.

The belief that the self image - the ego - is our own true nature is the ultimate case of mistaken identity.

We continue to 'be lived' by the Aliveness that we are, but the ego asserts ownership of all that happens. "That was me." "I did that." "I achieved that".

The Dream is the Dream of 'me' - the separate person, the individual, the one who controls what is happening, the one who makes it go right.

Except there is nothing at the core - no actual 'me' there at all. The apparent existence of the 'me', the assertion of ownership, the credit and the achievement are thoughts only. Nothing but thought. It is a hoax.

The actuality is that there is no 'conscious ego' that runs the show and pulls all the strings.

There is no 'conscious ego' that performs Self Inquiry and brings about the awakening of Awareness itself.

There is no 'conscious ego' that runs your spiritual practice, gets you on the path, brings about your achievements.

The actuality is that Life Itself continues to Live Us. We are Lived and we have always been lived, despite what the ego says on the subject.

Pointing has to be to outside the Dream, not inside it creating a more involved dream to believe in.

The truth is that there is only One Awareness and it is Awake. We are expressions of that and not separate from that.

Deny that - and the dream is on. That is what the dream is. Apparent separation that is believed in and reinforced and reinforced. The dream of the conceptual 'me' - "This is who I am".

The truth is that there is no separation and there never was - it only appears like that - meaning that the separation itself is dream content.

The truth is that our nature is already 100% Present, although it may not appear that way to the 'me'.

Our nature is 100% awake. And 100% One-ness.

Written by Mike Graham, 8 Mar 2008, last edited 19 Mar 2008