Category Archives: T Ch 4

The path to the realisation of “THAT”

T 4.3.1.2 In what way are birth, death and time illusory?

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4.3.1.2 In what way are birth, death and time illusory?

 

Up to this point of beginning the meditation on the non-reality of birth, death and time, you have lived your life like a prisoner cast into a dark cell. The stark reality of your life is that you have spent your time stumbling about in the gloom, getting by as best you could. In the ignorance and obscuring darkness of mind in its unenlightened state you have been incapable of understanding the true nature of the experiences conveyed to you by your five senses.

 

Yet, in your darkness, ignorance and isolation, you have progressed with unwavering determination in your daily practice of meditation. This practice has served to develop and strengthen your sixth sense, your inherent powers of intuitive insight into the nature of reality. You do not yet realise it, but the key has already been turned in the cell door; you have awakened the transcendent aspect of mind and you are free to leave the cell of conditioned existence.

 

Once out of the cell, you will have to travel the corridors of the prison until you reach the exit. You must be careful as you travel towards enlightenment and freedom; karma is still functioning to test your detachment from, and serenity in the face of, life’s experiences.

 

You have earned the right to leave behind your darkness and ignorance. These teachings will guide you out of the confining prison of ignorance of reality. Come, gather your determination and courage: as you travel along the corridors of space and time, mind and matter, life and death, you will discover that they exist only in the materialised and illusorily objective thought process of that, and being that in your true nature you transcend all of this.

 

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Firstly, become aware of your limitations. You have only travelled just over half way along the path to the final stage of enlightenment. Although you will soon be capable of intuitively grasping the nature of the illusion, it will only be transcended when you attain the final stage of enlightenment.

 

Be clear: at no time will your daily life dissolve away to reveal the reality beyond time and space. Any such experiences are simply an extension of the illusion, a function of the mind’s illusory and conditioned activities. Your daily life is unreal and illusory when experienced from the unenlightened viewpoint, and the real expression of the perfection of that when experienced from the enlightened viewpoint.

 

The illusion, obscuring true and direct intuitive experience of the nature of reality, lies in the mistaken interpretation of sensual experience which leads you to think, ‘I live, I age and one day I will die’. The reality is that what ages and dies is the body. The reality is that it is not ‘I’ who lives, but that which lives us.

 

Only that, which transcends, embraces and is conditioned existence is not subject to the conditions of time and space. With your newly awakened capacity to witness this with the silent, serene and transcendental awareness of that, meditate on the true nature of time. Be still, witness the one-pointed meditation process and know the truth through direct intuitive experience.

 

From the viewpoint of the individual, birth, ageing, suffering and death are inevitable. From the transcendental viewpoint of that, individuality is only relatively real, and so, too, are birth, ageing, suffering and death. That, in its absolute nature, is unborn and not subject to birth, ageing, suffering and death.

 

Time holds sway over the thought process of that. That is to say, your body and your individuality, being conditioned constructs of that, are subject to time, life and death. The reality is that in your own nature you are that, and only that.

 

Just as you are witnessing your one-pointed meditation with a serene awareness transcending thought, so that witnesses this. The gap between your mind’s conditioned activity and the serenity of transcendental awareness is the pulse, the duration, of one thought. This comes into and goes out of existence thought by thought.

 

The gap between existence conditioned by time and unconditioned awareness transcending time is the pulse of one thought. The measure of the gap between the eternal incarnate cycle of birth and death, and being transcending incarnation, is the duration of one thought. Duration through time is immersion in, and attachment to, the thought process of that.

 

 

T 4.3.2 In what way do mind and matter spring from a single source?

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4.3.2 In what way do mind and matter spring from a single source?

 

Are mind and matter separate?

 

Viewed from the narrow, limited and relatively illusory standpoint of mind in its individual and unenlightened form, there is a clear distinction between mind and matter. Viewed from the all-embracing and absolutely subjective standpoint of mind in its enlightened supra-individual form, both the individual mind and matter are intuitively known as illusorily separated and objectified products of that, the one universal mind which alone is. From the religious point of view, both mind and matter find a common source in God.

 

The transcending of the illusion that mind and matter are separate is achieved by the act of witnessing one-pointed meditation on the question printed above in bold. Take as long as you need to meditate on the question above. When your intuition enables you to understand the general principle involved, then move on to the more detailed one-pointed meditations which follow.

 

Deluded and confused by the apparent sensuous reality of this, mind in its unenlightened form has forgotten its origin and true nature. Mind has become unconscious of the reality that this is merely the product of its own thought process. The true goal is realisation of mind in its original state, transcending its thought products.

 

What is the nature of matter?

 

All material substance is an objectified product of mind in its unconditioned form. The individual mind, the unique point of view on this, is a thought product with only relative reality. From the relatively real (and equally so, the relatively illusory) perspective of individual perception, matter is both tangible and separate from mind. From the absolute, universal and real perspective of that, both matter and the individual mind which experiences this are simply conditioned thought products manifesting and unfolding simultaneously.

 

All of this is the unity, harmony and endless perfection of that made manifest. The mind, on becoming enlightened, accepts and understands the inherent harmony, wonder and perfection of this. Not having realised its true source and being in that, the unenlightened mind experiences this across all of time as endless birth, ageing, suffering and death. That is to say, the unenlightened mind is eternally immersed in the illusion of material reality.

 

How can the shape, colour and texture of objects be a product of mind?

 

Using the five senses as a guide, the shape, colour and texture of objects is clearly ‘out there’, an inherent property of all objects. Using the sixth sense as a guide, properly developed under a coherent and structured system of meditation, the relationship between the object perceived, the person perceiving and the act of perception is understood in a direct, intuitive way. Meditation-enhanced intuition informs the meditator that both the mind which perceives sensuous objects and the objects themselves are illusorily separate thought products of the one and only mind.

 

The act of perception is inseparable from the perceiver and that which is perceived. From the absolute perspective of the enlightened mind, all experience of sensuous reality – the everyday world we live in – is the product of projected concepts of the one mind. The experiencer, the experienced and the act of experiencing are all relative concepts of the one, universal, all-embracing mind.

 

All ephemeral things, this in its entirety, are produced, experienced and witnessed by mind in its unconditioned form. Both this and the thought in your head are products of that. There is a profound identity between a thought and this.

 

You have learnt from practice of the advanced meditations that thoughts arise spontaneously and uncontrollably, as a response to the stimuli of conditioned existence. Thoughts come into and go out of existence with immeasurable suddenness. Every thought is replaced by another, endlessly.

 

All of this is a thought of that. This comes into and goes out of existence with the rapidity and spontaneity of thought. This is so, because that thinks it to be so.

 

From the absolute viewpoint of mind in its enlightened state, this is witnessed in the same way as you have been learning to witness your own thought process. To travel along the path towards the final stage of enlightenment, act spontaneously, without interfering and with unwavering acceptance. To become enlightened, Live and Act.

 

How does ignorance of the true nature of this come about?

 

Mind in its unenlightened state is deluded and confused by the apparent sensuous reality of this.  Enlightenment clears away all errors and confusions about the nature of sensuous reality. You cannot know the world aright until you clear your mind of ignorance of the nature of reality.

 

Through incarnation after incarnation, as mind in its individual form experiences this, it becomes seduced by desire for more experience. Across immeasurable time, the individual mind forgets its real and enduring relation to that and comes to know only the limited and illusory experience of individual separateness. Mind only forgets, or becomes unconscious of, the truth that this is that: knowledge of the true nature of reality is always dormant in the mind, needing only meditative practices to re-awaken perception of the truth.

 

This current life is just one part of your long, long journey across the endless sea of this, the endless ocean of sensuous reality. The illusory and unreal goal is desire for the fruits of this – love, fame, wealth, possessions, power, success, health and all other sensuous experiences. The real goal of all lives is the realisation of mind in its true nature, not immersion in its thought products.

 

All suffering, all uncertainty all confusion is caused by ignorance of your own mind and nature. All sorrow can be transcended by realising and remaining in mind in its natural state. All fully developed spiritual paths make direct experience of the truth of reality accessible to anyone who seeks in a harmonious, natural and humble way.

 

 

 

T 4.3.3 In what way are all the many separate aspects of “THIS” really “THAT”?

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4.3.3 In what way are all the many separate aspects of this really that?

 

Is this a single thing?

 

When witnessed with a mind which has been awakened transcendentally, this is perceived in its true nature as a vast, organic, infinitely cross-connected living unity. All thinking minds, all things with life, all inanimate matter, are thought products of the one all-embracing mind. All processes, both natural and devised by humanity, all natural laws, both explicate and implicate, all moral, judicial and social systems are thought by that, and so come into existence.

 

That witnesses this without interference or desire. Mind in its unenlightened form experiences this within the terms of the karmically reactive system. Only with the dawning of enlightenment does the mind become freed from the thrall of karma.

 

Or is this a plural thing?

 

Things are seen, experienced and understood as plural and separate by the thinking mind. Inherently based on the ‘I’-thought, thinking creates an illusory experience of fundamental separateness, apartness and loneliness. The transcendentally awakened mind, clear, serene and filled with an awareness transcending thought, becomes conscious of the true, inherently unified nature of reality.

 

How can this be a single thing when it is manifestly innumerable separate things?

 

That is immanent in every component part and process of this. Every person is a unique focus of experience of this, capable of becoming conscious of the truth of reality, that this is that. Every living thing and every inanimate object is as much an integral part of this as you or I.

 

How can this be separate things, since in its true nature each thing is that?

 

This is illusory when experienced from the relative, separate and individual point of view; this is real when experienced from the absolute, integrated and transcendental point of view. The illusion that people and things are separate and real in themselves is a product of ignorance. The illusion that this is real in itself has been broken through sustained, committed daily practice of advanced meditation – transcendentally aware, you see only that this is that.

 

 

 

T 4.4 The realizing of reality

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The third stage of enlightenment has now been realised. It is characterised by the intuitive experience of seeing and experiencing all things as that. The illusion that things exist independently, in themselves, is broken forever.

 

Rest now, before resuming your journey. The goal is so close now – if you are seeking God, you will soon be re-united; if you are seeking the unconditioned state, you will soon realise it. Rest for a while, and witness this, with effortless spontaneity, in its true nature as that.

 

This is that

 

The contents and experiences of a dream are real to the dreaming mind. On awakening, everyday reality is known and experienced on its own terms. There is nothing else but that to see, know or experience.

 

The activities of dreams are that.

 

Being woken by the alarm, or a lover’s touch, is that.

 

Brushing your teeth, washing your face and emptying your bowels is that.

 

Bodily pleasures, discomforts and pains are that, configured by karma to direct your awareness.

 

Dressing, eating and embarking on the day’s activities are that.

 

There is no such thing as inactivity for the unenlightened person – only the mind capable of witnessing this as that can be truly still.

 

The events of the day, your interaction with people, places and things is the unfolding of that.

 

Desire for gratification of the senses is that.

 

Lack of desire for gratification of the senses is that.

 

The experience of sensual satisfaction is that.

 

The absence of sensual fulfilment is that.

 

The calm acceptance of what you receive as being what you get is that.

 

Intense, committed and impersonal effort to change what is unjust is that.

 

The endless and futile pursuit of illusory and transient goals, characteristic of the unenlightened mind, is that.

 

All of this is that