The Obsessive Nature of the Self

What is obsession and does it control our lives? Normally one thinks of an obsessive person as one who has a propensity to cling unnecessarily to objects and ideas that consumes ones thoughts. The subtlety of the minds small but equally obsessive compulsions are masked by events that are considered image important. Just how obsessive is the mind? One might be surprised to find out that the mind functions primarily within varying degrees of obsession. A person is normally seeking to achieve and to acquire in order to bolster self image and conform to societal demands. When the mind attaches its self to an ideal and makes that ideal the center of ones life, then it is obsessive. If one can look at ones self, just be aware in the moment of ones own thoughts, then it may be possible to see how totally obsessed the mind is. That thought just moves from one obsession to another in an endless quest for identity and individualism.

One must realize just how completely obsessive the mind is. As the self, the minds identity seeks to be constantly living up to the projected image that it has of its self. This results in a consciousness that is obsessive in nature. Perceived threats to that image will contribute to stronger obsessive behavior. The mind is trapped in a maze of images that must be sorted out and catalogued according to ones ideological image. The ideal self seeks its image in psychological and material accumulation. Thought is obsessed with the constant need to reinforce image with conformity. The mind requires events to conform to a self created reality. When they do not (and they never do) one becomes anxious and obsessive. Because the mind is completely unaware in the deeper sense of ones compulsive tendencies, obsessive behavior is not realized or understood. But because it is generally controlled and somewhat suppressed, it does not appear as an abnormality.


When one is aware in the moment and all else that is thoughts movement has stilled, then it is possible to realize just how obsessive the mind is. It is possible to see all the nuances of a mind that is totally obsessed with being and becoming. Because one cannot accept the moment as what is one seeks to escape. That escape is the result of the fear of not conforming to a projected image. The obsessive nature of thought is part of the psychology of desire and of the accumulating mind that is seeking definition and identity. When one understands completely the origin of desire as that which confines, limits and ultimately destroys, then one will have realized the true self. The self that is seeking is the obsession of desire in its many forms, and its realization in the moment is the cessation of the divided. When one sees and realizes the division that is the self, then freedom is the outcome, which is the dissipation of the obsessive self.

Change that is not a Result

Is transformation a change in the self? Is there something that occurs as the result of a cause and effect relationship? Is there a relationship of opposition that exist between that which is conditioned and that which is unconditioned? The self is the accumulated, that which the mind creates as the continuity of thought. The self is the defined and the identified. Memory is its mutually exclusive domain. The self is a fundamental expression of ones division, as such it cannot be other than what it is in the moment. All that can occur within the self is the modification of its identification. The self is the minds identity, it is the minds instinctual processes for survival. Without it you would not be able to react to the signs of danger and the need to seek shelter and sustenance. The self cannot change or transform. What understands the self as a division and separation is an intelligence that is outside the known. It exists as a consciousness that realizes its self and in so doing sees directly the illusion of the projected. The outcome of this seeing or realization is a consciousness that is not conditioned. But it only is in the absolute moment when there is a cessation of all division and conflict. The known and knowing ceases to exist, there is only the unknown.

The conditioned consciousness is the result of ones accumulations. That which is unconditioned is the outcome of the realization of freedom from the known and from the perception of knowing. Consciousness that is unconditioned is not the opposite of the conditioned, there is no defined relationship that is the causation of one over the other. If the mind creates a comparative relationship then one has not truly realized. One has only modified ones conditioning to accept the "idea" of the unconditioned. The unconditioned is realized only in the moment, the truth of it cannot be bottled and sold as a formulation. If a person "thinks" they are unconditioned then they are not, they are deluded.

When a person has realization of the true self and exist as a consciousness that is unconditioned, then a new process in the psyche takes place. The self that is the continuity of what was is displaced by an intelligence that sees into the nature and origin of thoughts movement as the self. As such one realizes that the observer is the observed. It is the fusion of thinker and thought. One sees into the illusion of the separated and divided. One becomes aware of the projection of the mind as the interpretation of what is. One sees the true nature of existence in the absolute moment without the distortion of minds accumulations. Outwardly ones actions take on a new direction. When one is free of the conflict of what was then the outcome is a love that transcends all other human inclinations. All attitudes and actions that are destructive and exploitative in nature fall away. One sees and understands completely the nature of fear in ones self. When there is no fear there is no conflict or violence. If one is illuminated then the change that is observed is not the result of an activity of mind, it is the realization of freedom from knowing and as an outcome of that freedom, the cessation of all conclusion and judgement as the projected self. One has an understanding of a given moment that is the transcendence of thought as an individualistic being. There is no prescribed direction because there is no movement. There is only the timelessness of the moment.

Change that is the manifestation of a transformation is not the result of some practice or belief, which is simply the glorification of the self absorbed. It is the outcome of total freedom. Freedom that is the realization of a consciousness that is unconditioned. But one will discover that it is very difficult to be free. One is so controlled by ones own conditioning that it seems almost impossible to realize that freedom. Many "Buddhist" systems and practices have emerged over the centuries to try and suppress and subdue the conditioned mind, but it all results in a mind that is dysfunctionally caged and artificially made to conform. One becomes a prisoner of a suppressed mechanistic community. The conformity of rituals and practices turns one into a drone. One seeks to acquire illumination through suppression. Suppression of the mind and its desires can never result in freedom. It is all done for self gratification. One has to live life as it actually is, not escape from it by jumping into some ridiculous religious practice that simply covers up your greed and violence or worse justifies it. To be free, means to be totally free from all systems and practices. Direct realization is the only way in which one will be free. The mind is its own bondage and filling it with knowing and the known only creates further barriers to an understanding that is not of the mind and its minion, the ego/self. One needs to start with a tiny hole in the fabric of ones conditioned consciousness that allows one to start to see the truth of the moment. It will eventually grow to the size of a doorway, and one day one will step through the doorway and experience total freedom and total peace.

Dying to the Past

What do we mean by the phrase "dying to the past"? The mind whose thought has its origins in the desire for self perpetuation, the desire to attain, to succeed, whether in the materialistic or spiritual is bound to be caught in illusion. But if the mind is capable of dying psychologically to the past, the past which is its accumulated experience, the past which is the perpetuation of the self, then one may realize that there are no paths to truth. There is no formula that can lead one to an understanding of the truth of what is. When the mind dies to the past as the psychological memory of what was and the desire for security, it is only then that the true reality of the absolute moment comes into being.

If one can die to the past fully and completely so there is no residue of desire or conclusion that can be clung to, die to every form of conditioning, then one will realize an understanding that transcends both life and death. When the mind ceases the activity of accumulation, that which remains is the unknown, the only true reality. If one realizes a state of existence that is the unknown, then one has realized the true self. Because the true self is the actual realization of death in the moment. We realize in that very moment that life and death are one in the same. That they are not two states of reality but one, it is the essence of the unknown.

When the past is psychologically eliminated as a reference point then one may experience a freedom that is not the result of something achieved or desired. Freedom brings a clarity of understanding that is not connected to what has been. That understanding sees into the mind that is embroiled in the relativism of ones culture and experience. One realizes that ones life has been subjected to the prejudiced and bias of psychological relativism. The separated and divided self is the product of thought and its realization in the moment is the truth of the actual.
When one is choicelessly aware in the moment then the moment is what it is. That awareness sees the true self in what is. There is no movement as thought away from that truth. Time/space loses its relevancy. It is the end of all conflict and violence.

Is Negation a Conclusion?

Some have said that the negation of what a person has said or written is a type of conclusion or judgement. This statement has validity if one is seeking to agree or disagree. When one gives full attention to a writer or speaker, what is taking place? Are you referencing your experience, the catalogue of information contained in the conscious mind? Does this include your beliefs and opinions? Negation has to start with the self. One must negate the authority of the self otherwise one is only looking for that which conforms. One is looking through the image of self. Do not engage in an exercise of finding fault in what others say, only realize the reflection of the self that is projected into what is said or written. One is not negating another person one is negating the perception of illusion that is wholly a product of the dualistic self. The writer or speaker is of no consequence, they are the mirror of relationship. The truth is in the reflection or that mirror.

One does not negate or affirm a personality, only the superficial understanding of the conceptual. When one negates ones own authority one also negates the authority of the other. When there is no authority there is no one to conclude about or to judge. There is only the truth of that which is unconditioned. The truth cannot be known as a direct result of an activity of thought. Direct knowing is not possible because the self that knows is born of the illusion of ones dual nature. It is, when all authority as the self and the other has been negated. Truth is realized in the moment, but never known. It arises and dissipates from moment to moment. If remembered as concept and applied as the known, its validity has been lost. One cannot teach truth, one can only realize it for ones self in the absolute moment.

Negation is not a conclusion or a judgement, it is the dissipation of the authority of the self that is choosing. When one is aware without choice then the self is negated and along with it all conclusion and opinion. With the elimination of ones own authority a domino effect takes place in which all authority falls. What is left is the freedom of the unconditioned, the true self. One realizes directly the origin of all conflict, confusion and violence. And it ends.

Promotion of the Known

Promotion of the known is promotion of the self and its conclusions and opinions. Those who write books and give lectures on self improvement or finding the "higher self" may have good intentions, but they sometimes delude more than assist. When one has a realization that is genuinely a life transforming event, then it is easy to get caught up in the "desire" to help others realize. One may get caught up in the importance of ones own image as he or she who "knows".

Once one has a group of followers or believers, then it easy to go the next step, of creating a loosely held list of ideals that one must adhere too in order to attain. If one goes to the book store one can count hundreds of self help books that of a spiritual or psychological nature. They all have their tenants and systems of practice. The authors of these books are authority figures in a particular field, some are spiritual practitioners, doctors, sociologist, psychologist or a self proclaimed divinity. But they all have one thing in common they promote the known. They are in fact the image of the known, the illusion of the self absorbed.

One must have the realization that freedom from the known is the most important single factor in realizing the true self. One can read and listen to what these various authorities have to say but in the end one needs to maintain a spirit of unattachment. It is taken in, in the moment and then released in that same moment. It does not become a part of ones definition as the self. Because for one to realize truth there can be no self that is defined or identified. This is the freedom of a consciousness that is unconditioned. The outcome of this freedom is understanding that transcends the self. Then each moment is a total understanding of the reality of thoughts movement as the self. One is not caught in the ideal, in the mind that is seeking.

It is very difficult to maintain a clear and unattached mind. The mind as the movement of thought naturally seeks identification through the known. That is why it is important to be aware without choice, without choosing that creates a position. Then there is an absence of the conflict of opposition. Conflict breeds conflict. Once you are caught in the circle of trying to find answers in the authority of the known you are lost. One has to break free from the self that is both the problem and the solution.

Who Are You This Moment?

Are you the image you have concocted, the result of your phantasmic experience? Are you the projection of your latest belief, the book you have just read, the lecturer that is the latest fad? Or are you the simplicity of this very moment? Is there understanding into the source and origin of the self that is seeking an image? People build monuments to the image they have of themselves. They create small empires that project their self importance, whether it be the material or the psychological or both. They are captives of the known, of that which is the self serving reality of illusion.

One can see, if one has the capacity, all the self created conflict of those who claim to "know". What is known is the projected conflict of inner authority. Authority in whatever form is always corruptible and corrupting. It is the antithesis of freedom. One cannot "know" and realize freedom. Freedom from the known is the only true freedom. It does not involve "something" to be free from. It is freedom that is the negation of all save the true self. It is the truth of the absolute moment that is free of all conclusion and judgement. One must be totally aware of the conflicting nature of the self and its accumulations. It is conflict that becomes the violence of the separated, the one who projects the division of the "known", that which is within the conditioned consciousness.

When a person consciously stays with the moment and is aware of the movement of thought away from what is, then an insight may occur. One may realize the truth about the self in that moment, because one is not escaping psychologically into the past or the future. The self that is the absolute moment has no definition or identity because there is no movement of time/space as thought. The moment reveals the true self. Its reflection is in what is. In that moment one is transformed, a new entity is realized. That entity is re-realized from moment to moment. It is the illumination of the unconditioned.

If you truly realize who you actually are in the moment then you will have no agenda to promote, no image to project. In the absolute moment you are free. There is no past or future. There is only the timeless, that which has no beginning or end. There is no movement of thought as time, there is only the eternal moment in which one realizes the intelligence of simplicity.

The Named as "What Is"

When in the absolute moment there is no movement of thought as time/space. There is only what is. Are we looking at what is through definition? Have we named the moment? If one has a descriptive image of "what is" in the mind, then one is not in the moment. It is the projection of the experiential. It is the natural act of referencing the past to understand through self image. One seeks patterns of repetitiveness in perceived reality to reach a conclusion or opinion. We make "what is" the known, an act of familiarity, which creates a sense of security. That is why many people can look at the same circumstance and arrive at different states of reality(conclusions). One interprets according to ones conditioned mind. To actually see and realize the truth of the absolute moment in "what is" there cannot be conclusion or opinion. The moment must be a choiceless state of awareness in which what is being observed is the observer. Then the "what is" reveals the truth of the self. The moment is transformed and transforming.

When "what is" is the realization of the true self then ones whole life is altered. A new path is revealed which has no direction or defined purpose, it is the simplicity of moment. In the moment there is no how or where or what? Questions and answers are of no consequence. One has the realization that the moment reveals truth only when there is no movement of thought as space/time. To seek is to conclude. What is sought is born of the conflict and confusion of the separated. It is the projection of that conflict. To see and realize that conflict in "what is" is the dissipation of its influence as the illusion of the self created. There is freedom in the truth of "what is". If one has the passion and the fortitude it can be realized.

A Change in the Chemistry of Thought

Can a person actually change the way they think and react? Is that change a superficial alteration or a deep personal self realization? If one were to realize a state of consciousness that is unconditioned, then a very significant psychological transmutation would take place. It is possible that ones entire life would be transformed. Psychologically one would be without any attachment that defines. When the identifying self is sublimated then there is freedom that is conducive to a state of awareness that alters the thought process. There is understanding that is not born of the self, that is, it does not emanate from a preoccupation with a consciousness that is predicated on motivations of the self absorbed. When the self absorbed consciousness moves to the background then there is space for something totally new. There is clarity that brings about a consciousness that is neither sought after nor formulated. It is an absence of the dual nature of the thought process. When thought realizes its own movement there is a change in the chemistry of that movement. A stillness is brought about by an understanding that sees into the root of all conflict.

Awareness that is choiceless and timeless changes everything in ones life. With the dissipation of the self comes understanding of the unconditioned. It is a consciousness that transcends and transmutes all previous ideals. It is the transubstantiation of the self as the movement of time/space into the unknown. One is no longer defined or identified. One is an anonymous spontaneity that exist wholly in the moment.

One may think that this is all just a lot of gibberish coming from some quackadoodle? But if one has passion for the truth then a realization will come that is not the result of this writers efforts or any other personality that is seeking to get into your pocketbook and create a following of mindless drones. The truth is you have to do all the work. You have to see through your conflict and confusion to find the truth that is within. Words provide definition and create an ideal, but they are never true reality. You have to realize and see in the immediate now, the absolute moment, the violence and conflict of your own mind. You must see it as though it were a rattlesnake right in front of you and act.

Does thought actually change or is there simply a transcendence within the workings of the thought process? The chemical processes that occur in thought are the result of recognition and identification. When there is stimulus there is response. That response is wholly the outcome of the repetition of the known. Memory is thoughts movement through time as the repetitive projection of the known, the image of self. When there is thought as the duality of the separative self there is only a consciousness that discerns though affectation. Ones thoughts and thus actions are always incomplete, a finality that is a total release is never realized. The subconscious mind is the storehouse of this pent up emotional baggage. Though we may not be aware of it, this baggage continually affects the way we perceive reality and its resulting conflict.

The Nature of Conflict

Why is it that we seek pleasure and avoid pain? It is very difficult to look at pain or conflict in a dispassionate manner. We a caught up in the details and emotions of what we believe is the source of a conflict. It can be a person or a circumstance that triggers the emotional stress. We live in expectation of our projected desires. We maintain a reality in our mind that is the projection of an ideal. Are we the source of our pain or is it the other, the one who has not complied with our image of the ideal? We are searching for conformity in a world that seldom conforms to our desires. The truth may lie in the dual nature of self and the projection of that duality as pleasure and pain. Is there a difference between pain and pleasure? Is the mere absence of pleasure, pain and vice versa? Is it possible for one to see the relationship that exist between the two emotional states? Can one realize that they are not in reality two distinct conditions of the mind, but one? While these questions are rhetorical, they should enable one to stop for a moment and really look at thoughts movement as the motivations of the self that is seeking and avoiding. To seek is to avoid, and to avoid is to seek. Pain is pleasure and pleasure is pain, they are one in the same. One creates the psychological impetus for the other. To take it one step further, can one realize that this dynamic is the result of the mind that is seeking the image of its self in what is. It is the result of the desire for conformity in the perception of what is.

This is duality, and it is the nature of all conflict. It begins and ends with the motivations of the self that is seeking. One must see through the position and opposition dynamic of thought as the separated self that is the root of all duality as conflict. If one can observe this activity as the observed then there will be a dissipation of the self as the conflict of the moment. It is the full realization of the self as that conflict. When one realizes that one is the conflict and not separate from it something quite extraordinary may happen. One may see the illusion of self and the self created in that conflict. The outcome of which is the timelessness of the absolute moment that is the dissipation of all save the true self.

Timelessness of the Unconditioned

How does a person realize a consciousness that is unconditioned? What is the reality of the unconditioned? What do we mean by unconditioned? The unconditioned is not a state of existence that can be learned as knowledge. One cannot acquire it through practice or discipline. It is a realization of the moment that excludes the self as that which is seeking a conclusion or an opinion. It is not a cognitive accomplishment that becomes a part of ones effort. It is re-realized from moment to moment. It is the reality of the absolute moment that is not a movement of thought as the separative self. The timeless is action in the moment, the action of understanding that is no way connected to memory as experience. Memory is the formulated, the self that is seeking answers in what was. The unconditioned is the the unreferenced, that which is absent thought as the movement of time.

The unconditioned is timeless in the sense that it is not a referenced thought that is the result of ones experience. It is always new as that which has validity only in the absolute moment. It is neither a position nor a movement, so there is no definition either as a relativity or quantum adherence. It has nothing to do with the foolishness of quantum manifestation. All these are the tricks of a mind that is seeking answers to questions that are the result of ones conditioned consciousness. It is the mind that is seeking to know, the known that represents the self as the image of the illusion of what is. Science is the known which is seeking to make the unknown the known. Because of the limitations of thought as the self which is seeking, one can only know what is relative to ones perception. The truth of the unknown cannot be defined, it is infinite in the sense that it has neither beginning nor ending. It can be hinted at but never completely understood as either a paradox or an uncertainty. If there is understanding that is definition then it is the projection of the observer, the self which is seeking the image of self in that which is defined.

As humans we are extremely curious and anxious about knowing. We want to understand so that we can problem solve. We come up with all kinds of formulas and systems to facilitate that understanding, but somehow we can never grasp the a full understanding of the self that is doing the formulating and systematizing. We develop every kind of method that can be gleaned from both the ancient and the new age, from esoteric text to the science of quantum physics and string theory. All of it is totally meaningless if one cannot understand the conflict and violence that is within each of us. All these products of the mind do nothing to help realize the truth of who we actually are. They are only distractions that lead us further astray, that prevent us from remaining in the simplicity of the moment in which one can realize truth.

Challenge yourself to remain totally in the moment for a full day and realize your every thought along with its true motivations. Look at yourself as you actually are, not as you would like to think of yourself as. Do it choicelessly without a conclusion or a judgement. Just observe the moment and perhaps thought will realize its own movement. Truth may be revealed to you and you will realize a freedom that cannot be defined.

The Solution is in Simplicity

The mind is naturally inquisitive. Its what it means to be human. We gather information and material in order to exist. It is part of our survival mechanism. The more that we accumulate the more secure we feel. But when we become psychologically attached to our accumulations, they then become our identity. When this very subtle transition from having to being takes place our lives become very complicated. When utilization becomes ownership there is a very deep psychological mutation that takes place. We become our acquisitions, psychologically. It is the result of insecurity and fear that is prompted by desire. So one lives as the acquisitive, seeking to acquire more and more in an attempt to define the self. One seeks power in what is accumulated in order to overcome insecurity. The more one accumulates the more one has to accumulate. Accumulations may be in the form of wealth as money and property or the spiritual in the form of people who believe and follow. But it is all the same the desire to become through what is accumulated. One should realize that it is a very subtle activity and very difficult to realize directly in ones own life. We want to cling to our beliefs and to our property because we are identified with it and what it is associated with, the power and influence that it seems to create within. It is very difficult to realize in the absolute moment that it is all just an illusion, a transitory projection of the mind that is seeking. In reality nothing has value or significance except what is assigned by the mind. Life is complex because we make it so. We are so utterly consumed with our own persona and its image that it is difficult to realize the beauty and intelligence of simplicity.

The absolute moment is the purest form of simplicity. It is consciousness that is absent the past as memory and therefore the future as projection. The moment does not contain your dreams and desires, it contains only what is. It is reality that is absent the self that is conjuring images and definitions in an attempt to become something or to acquire something. To live in the moment is to chuck all that garbage that is in your mind and create space for intelligence which is the outcome of clarity. When one stops making choices, then one stops accumulating. Choiceless awareness leads to a quieting of the mind. A realization may occur, one may realize that all of the minds accumulations are the attachments that hinder one from directly seeing the truth of the absolute moment, from realizing the true self. If one realizes the true self then it is possible to be experiencing timeless awareness in which there is a total dissipation of self. It is the illumination of that which has no beginning and no end.

Simplicity cannot be artificially induced by "acts" of simplicity such as giving away all worldly possession and living as an ascetic. That is not simplicity, that is the conditioned mind that is still seeking to acquire. Only one is greedy for the perceived simplicity of the spiritual, one is still caught in the illusion of the mind that desires. Simplicity starts with an awareness of the movement of thought as that which is seeking to become. If one is aware directly of ones own mind and its acquisitive nature, then that is the beginning of an understanding and insight into the origin of conflict. One needs only to be aware from moment to moment of the true motivations of the self that is seeking reality in image. Simplicity is the outcome of freedom. Freedom that is not freedom from something, but that which is when the self is not.

What is the Purpose of Life?

This is a humorous question to one who lives totally in the moment. You must ask yourself why you would ask such a question? What is the state of a mind that is inquiring into purpose? Does not the question presuppose an answer based on opinion and conclusion. All answers only create more questions. It is very subtle, the mind seeks to find a solution to a problem that is the result of the illusion of knowing. The known is the past. Then can life as purpose be known as something that is relegated to definition as an image? The defined is the image of self, of the content of ones consciousness. One could only logically say that the purpose of life is the self. But if the self is the illusion of thoughts movement then the purpose of life however defined is also illusion.


If you are seeking purpose in life then you are trapped by the mind that is absorbed with the idea of its own mortality. If life has purpose then perhaps one will believe in a continuance of life as the defined projection of self. This creates within the conditioned consciousness the idea of an after life as an extension of the self. One searches for meaning and purpose so that an imagined presence as the ego/self will exist for an eternity. It is often defined as the higher self, the spirit, essence, or any of a number of other labels that contain the characteristics of ones particular beliefs. But if it is possible to look at the moment and what actually is then it may be apparent that such beliefs are in reality a projection of a mind that is seeking its own continuity.

We think of life in terms of a beginning and an ending, so we naturally assume there must be some meaning or purpose, otherwise why go on, why exist at all. It requires a very deep understanding of existence, to realize that there is in reality no beginning or ending, that it is simply the duality of thought that creates the sensation of a self that is a separated individuality in time/space. If there is a fusion of thinker and thought, which is the dissipation of self, then one may realize a consciousness that is not the result of the conditioned self. There is no magic formula or secret doctrine, one needs only to have passion for understanding the true self.

How is the Freedom you speak of Possible?

There must be a simple awareness that is not the result of the mind that is seeking something. You must be aware in the moment and realize how utterly trapped you are by the conditioned mind. How that every moment of your life is the preprogramed or modified preprogramed result of a mind that is seeking the projection of self in what is. One is almost completely predictable because one reacts out of the memory of the self absorbed. What has been is what will be. The mind is constantly seeking security in what is perceived as the reality of thoughts movement. But that security is never realized because it is the projection of a conceptual ideal. The reality is there is no such thing as security. Freedom is insecurity, one is already free, but mind blocks the realization of it. One lives in the illusion of the security of self image. Life is lived escaping from the reality of the absolute moment, which is total freedom.

Essentially the mind seeks security in attachment and identity. We identify with what we believe in. We create our own self enclosing bondage. We view and react in life through that bondage, that self created image we have of ourselves. It is one of the reasons we are in such conflict. If one can realize and see, taste, and feel the conflict that is born of the self and how that everyone is enslaved by its violence, then perhaps one will break away from what has been. There will be insight into human conditioning and one will move in a new direction, one of freedom, understanding and love. Without freeing yourself from the known, you will only modify what has gone on before. You will still live in the conflict and violence of the self absorbed.

It is simple, but it is also complicated by the mind that is weighted down by the accumulations of culture, religion, and all the rest of the nonsense that the cluttered and utterly confused mind contains. Just be aware that your mind is in this state of conflict and confusion which is totally self inflicted. If you have passion to find that deep level of understanding then you will free yourself. You will realize the beauty and love of insecurity and vulnerability.

How can such a life be lived?

A number of people have questioned me about living a life that is a negation of the self. They want to know how it is possible to live a life that is without the self? How does one live without making choices and arriving at conclusions that seem necessary for day to day living? It is simple, first of all you will only ask these questions if you have not realized. Because the mind is seeking to know, to have an understanding that is the result of the projection of memory as cause and effect, one is caught in the duality of having or not having something. It has its origin deep within ones conditioned consciousness. Consciousness that is seeking results within the logic of thought. It may seem that one is really avoiding the question. But it must be realized that to seek out a defined systematic approach to understanding is to avoid the reality of what is. The reality is that the self continues as it always has. The self does not change. Nothing replaces the self, there is no secret formula. There is only the passion to realize an understanding that transcends the self. That understanding is a creation process. It is the simultaneous death and birth of the true self from moment to moment. That is, one has understanding that is not of time, it is not a movement, but rather an illumination that is an entirely new direction. A direction that is not born of conditioned thought, but that which is the outcome of the unconditioned which is not a repetition of the known. It is the never before and the never will be again.

So one uses the self, which is the mechanism of thought that is the result of our survival instinct, as a natural process of life. It is not something to be overcome it is simply something to be understood. When that understanding is on the very deepest level of human consciousness then something quite amazing happens. One transcends the duality of that very consciousness. Then every moment reveals the true self, that which is beyond thought as time/space. All attachment and identity falls away. One is experiencing freedom the outcome of which is clarity and insight into the moment. Ones action is then totally out of character because it is not the result of what has gone on before. It is totally new and only in the moment. One is timelessly aware from moment to moment. It is the meditation of the selfless.

A question requires a formulated answer. As long as one questions one is escaping the truth of the moment. The formulated only creates more questions. Have the realization that there are no answers, there is only the self that is seeking attachment and identity. The question and the answer are one in the same...the self that is seeking the image of self.

The Reflection of Self

How can one realize that the reflection of self is in what is? When there is observation through that which is accumulated conditioning, the conditioned consciousness, what is observed is the illusion of the separated. One believes that one is looking at another, that which is defined by an intellective entity. There is the belief in time/space as the separation between the observer and what is observed. It is a moment that is forever transitory in the mind that is seeking conclusion and result. Thought is movement through time and space as the entity that represents the continuity of the past. It is the formulation of memory that creates the self as that which is the remembered and therefore the defined or named. So thought, creates as the self the one who observes and the activity of the self is defining the observed according to ones knowledge. What is defined is the refection of the self that is observing. What is observed and defined is totally in the mind and thought of the observer. It is not the reality of what is, it is the reality of the defined the named the self that is the observer. The observer is the observed. The thinker is the thought. They are not separate, there is no time/space, there is only what is in the absolute moment.

Whatever is observed in time/space is the reflection of self. When one looks at a circumstance and concludes, chooses or otherwise seeks a movement, what one actually sees is a reflection of ones self in time/space. But one can only have this realization as a fact of the absolute moment if one is timelessly aware. Awareness that is not a movement and is not seeking a result. Mind must be in a meditative state that is totally aware of the conditioned consciousness, that is aware of its movement through time/space as the defined.

If one is timelessly aware, the observer is the observed. There is a consciousness that is unconditioned, that is not of the known. That consciousness is the outcome of the total realization of the reflection of self in what is. It is realizing the true self, that which has no definition and cannot be named. It is the beginning of an intelligence that is not a divisive and separative activity of thought.