Irrationality and the Self that Knows

The mind normally seeks structure in the form of some concept that is in keeping with our self created rationality. When we look at others we realize that activities of the self are really irrational in some respects, but we fail to realize the origin of this irrationality. Because the mind exist within the context and contents of its own space/time limitation we cannot see that we are rift with irrationality. The mind is under the influence of the drug of its authority. That authority is our prison and it prevents us from realizing the true reality of the moment. Authority creates the need for structural adherence to particular modes of thought. Without structure, authority ceases to exist and vice-versa. This relationship of duality is the result of our dependence on "knowing" in any given moment. Knowing prevents seeing directly into truth that is always present in the absolute moment. Truth is not a universal understanding nor is it a fixed thought/exposition. It cannot be held as a concept of the known. It is a moment to moment realization that is without the need for validation or application. It cannot be structured as an application of rationality.

What this means is that there is another way of looking that involves a consciousness that is not attached to the minds rationality model. The minds rationality model is the way in which we approach a given circumstance and how we assign significance. This of course varies according to our emotional state and our physical and psychological state. The mind that understands the reality of the moment has dissipated the self that compares and concludes. It is the result of a mind that is totally aware of the inner and outer conflict that is our pattern of understanding through what has been. The past dominates the present moment because we are looking through our prejudice. We do not see reality except through the self that is projecting. If one could fully realize this projected illusion then there would be clarity that transcends belief in what should be. Because we are seeking to know through what is already known we reject all except the repetition of our own mind/belief. The predictable security of knowing which does not allow the illumination of the new and never before. Illumination is a spontaneous seeing in the moment which is absent the activity of referencing what is known. Many would say that it is not possible to understand without referencing, but that is because they are caught in the circle of cause and effect thinking. They cannot comprehend a consciousness that is free of what has been. There is no formula for living a consciously unconditioned life. It is when all else is totally understood as the illusion of self. Then there is a freedom that cannot be defined or "known".

Transference

Transference is the belief that you can transfer the ability to heal, understand or accomplish to a person, object, ideal or organization. It is the antithesis of freedom. To lock yourself into a mind set that takes away your ability to realize understanding that is not a product of the illusion of self. The mind tends to project its problems and solutions away from the ultimate realization. The realization that the self is the beginning and end to all that is the conflict and confusion of life. But it is one thing to understand this conceptually and quite another to realize it moment to moment. Transference is avoidance, a way of escaping the responsibility and freedom of the absolute moment. If we can push our problems and anxieties on to another person or entity then the responsibility lies in the belief system that we have adopted. In this way we can mete out blame for what ails us to a lack of conformity to our particular beliefs either by ourselves or others.

To realize that you are the problem and the solution is a big step toward freedom. Freedom that wipes away all reliance on religions, potions, crystals, systems, enlightened guru's and all the rest of the fantasy's that we create in order to escape true self realization. To live life completely empty of all the garbage that hides the true reality of self is to realize a freedom that has no equal. It is to realize an intelligence that is whole and complete, that is without the need for the crutch of transference in an objective or subjective belief. The mental and physical talismans that we give authority to prevent us from seeing the truth of the actual. They prevent us from realizing an intelligence that is beyond the physical, metaphysical and universal self created monolith.

The truth is found in the chaos and disorganization of the absolute moment, not in the organization and order of idealism and doctrinaire subjectivity. If the mind is caught in the cause and effect of order and justifiable conflict then there is only the illusion of solution, there is never the reality of love that transcends all knowledge. One who is illuminated transcends the organized and the dutiful. Such a person cannot "know" cause and effect and is therefore beyond the duality of life and death, beyond the perception of chaos and disorganization. There is only the one realization, that which is unconditioned by the conceptuality of belief and the illusion of a separate self that knows.

The Mind that Projects

The mind seeks to understand and accumulates knowledge to further its understanding. But what is the source of the one who understands? The one who understands, 'the self', is the dual nature of the content of ones consciousness. There is thought and then there is the one who thinks. This separation is the beginning of the confusion and contradiction of a mind that is seeking understanding through the continuity of what it knows. Perceived continuity creates the illusion of a self that is separate from what is known. What follows is thoughts projection as the self. To consciously know is to project what is known into the moment and to conceptualize ones destiny.

Destiny is to project ones conceptualization of what should be into the future. Most people live for the future in order to escape the moment. Because the mind as the self is seeking a continuance of what it believes, it is always comparing circumstances in order to justify what it believes to be predestination. The moment is the new and never before, it is not a continuance of anything that has gone before. But because we are looking for similarity and security we only see what we want to see. We live in destined conceptuality, not in the truth of the moment. When you are totally free then the moment is lived for the moment not for the future or for the "predictable moment".

Destiny or predestination is the illusion of a mind that is seeking security in knowing. But there is no such thing as security. Life should be lived fully in the insecurity of the moment. Living fully in the moment means that you leave all your prejudices and conceptual models behind. It means that you are open to the possibility of something unfamiliar, something that is spontaneous. This is the essence of an illuminated consciousness. It is understanding that is absent the duality of the one who knows. It is realizing and being aware of the minds propensity to seek definition and to name and label things and so in this manner escape the truth of the absolute moment.

There is no destiny, there is only the minds desire to know and define. We look for meaning in everything that we encounter, but we seldom understand the acute simplicity of just allowing "what is" to be without trying to understand through definition. Definition is the result of a conditioned consciousness, of a mind that is in conflict and contradiction. Simplicity is the highest intelligence for it seeks not to define or label but to understand through freedom, through the unconditioned. If you live the moment fully and completely, to the point where there is no accumulation or residual grasping of a defined activity to be relived, then the mind is free to discover. What it discovers is the true self, that which is beyond definition.

Avoidance

When you have discussions with people it is interesting how opinions play such a large part in understanding. Of course that understanding is extremely limited. Limitations are largely self imposed. We are bound by the minds perception, which is a product of individual experience and the conclusions we draw from that experience. It is very difficult not to have an opinion or a conclusion because the mind works from a position. It builds and seeks to build on the influences of its beliefs and those persons and ideals we give credibility too. I have mentioned in previous blogs that understanding that is not a result, can only be realized if the mind has freed its self of its conditioning. But in order for this to occur a person must have insight into the very nature of self, so that it is possible to go beyond the limitations of the known or knowledge.

A person can use knowledge to live conceptually and this is what all of us do in order to exist in a world that seems to cultivate hostility. We are always seeking an escape from the unpleasant and undesirable. It is the nature of the species to seek out a form of avoidance. We can be confrontational, physically or psychologically(which is its own type of avoidance) or we can assert some form of religious or political belief which enables us to avoid through doctrine. But all these avoidance's only further alienate one from another. They do not help us to understand the origin of what causes us to create conflict, confusion and violence. Even when we mutually decide that some form of dialogue is necessary, we come to the table armed with our various agendas. We are not really seeking truth that is not a result, we only want to further our own interest. So we may reach some sort of compromise, that does nothing but appease. Appeasement is avoidance. You must come to a fundamental realization, that if you are ever going to live in peace, it must start with the self. The realization that "you" are the origin of all that you are seeking to avoid.

The key is seeing the reality of a self that is embroiled in its own authority and how that the self wants to further its own conceptual illusions at the expense of peace and understanding. Why is it that we insist on "being right"? Human fallibility is a fact of life and no amount of idealization, compromise or indoctrination will change this fact. One should stay with ones fallibility and realize that our fallibility is the essence of what makes us vulnerable and able to love. When we avoid vulnerability we avoid love and understanding.

In each and every encounter, if you are vulnerable, you open yourself up to the possibility of understanding that is without self promotion. True understanding starts with understanding of a self that is seeking to promote and ultimately to receive or acquire. When the activity of seeking some sort of satisfaction or conformity is abated then true understanding of the moment is a possibility.

That "Space" Called Peace

Sometimes when I am in discussions with friends, they ask me; "Are you always in that "place" or "space" where you are completely at peace". If it were possible to answer this question so that it could be instantaneously understood, then the question would not have been asked. So I must answer the question by first saying that the question in reality cannot be asked. Because if I ask such a question it has already been answered by the one who has asked. The reality is that you are always who you are in the moment and that reality is a direct consequence of your conditioning. You cannot change your conditioned thought process. All one can do is realize thoughts movement and be aware of its propensity to seek out results. Results are the continuation of what has been, of the conditioned consciousness. When you have the realization that you are not separate from thought, then the door is opened to the truth of the moment. The moment reveals the true self, that which is beyond what has been and what will be. It is the dissipation of "knowingness". The known is the self, they are one in the same. It is the content of ones consciousness that makes up the self. Thought is the projection of that content. So if I come to you aware of that consciousness and its content then I can realize the moment as an emptiness or a consciousness that is without the conditioning of its content. The outcome is a freedom that allows truth in the guise of love and acceptance. There is no judgement or comparison only the truth of what is, which is without the analysis of a perceived separation or duality. It is experiencing in the moment which can never become experience (the past) as the continuity of subjective thought. Each moment is its own eternity, but it can only be realized when one has gone beyond the self which is the projection of the content of ones conditioned consciousness.

So there is in reality no "place" or "space" to be, there is only peace that is without the one who "knows" peace. In a sense it is allowing the gift of life, of consciousness to flow though you that is without the definition and limitation of a mind that is caught in known. The cosmos has realized a consciousness though us, its children, should we not honor all life forms both sentient and non-sentient by caring and loving regardless of ideals or appearances. The realization of true peace is right before you, you are it, it is not separate from you.

Authority and the Self

I was meditating on the meaning of authority and how it pervades the consciousness of each of us. When reference is made to authority it should be understood that what is meant is the authority of the self. All authority has its origin in the self as an element of ones consciousness that judges and either accepts or rejects. Because we judge and conclude we allow and accept the authority of others. Authority is the result of our insecurity and fear. When we accept out of fear then we create an atmosphere of exploitation in which authority becomes a repressive extension of our insecurity. We frequently rebel against authority but we are unable to understand that its origins are deep within our own subconscious mind. It is very difficult to truly see and understand the workings of self authority because we are caught up in an endless decision making process that is at the very root of our will to survive. Since our lives are reactive, in the sense that we believe that we are a product of a result, we establish an authority that is the one who determines.

But what if there was no authority? What if we lived a life that was free of the ideals of self determination? What if we did not choose or allow ourselves to be manipulated by reaction? Is this not truly a life of freedom? A life lived just for the joy of the moment. It is true that you have to make choices in order to live, but what if choices were without psychological significance? If a person does not assign an authority to those choices then they do not become a permanent part of ones psyche. They are noted and utilized in the moment but then they are released. They do not become a point of reference which is the origin of future reactions of the self. Then it may be possible to a live life free of prejudicial authority and to reject the authority of others. Others have authority only when given through the authority of the self. You have to be it in order to give it (authority).

If you are obsessive about a belief or an opinion, then you have established an idealized authority. That authority becomes the idealistic belief that your life revolves around. Your mind is essentially closed to all that does not conform to your patterned reality. You become trapped by the limitations of your own narrow view of existence. While you may believe that you are actually expanding your knowledge within a particular discipline, what you are actually doing is furthering your inability to look at the reality of the moment through a mind that is free to discover the self. To discover the reality of the self in the moment is to open up a whole new way of living. It is a life of freedom, that sees into the nature of the self and of the whole spectrum of existence.


Looking and seeing are two very different activities. When you look you are using the mask of the self. When you see there is no self, only what is. The truth is always in what is, not in the self which is "what was" projected as "what should be". This is very difficult to understand because most of us a caught up in the "results" of a conditioned mind. Such a mind responds reactively. All reactions are a product of the past, of the known. You cannot fully understand the present moment through the past. You are caught in the repetitive illusion of understanding through comparison and conclusion. One uses the old to try and understand the new. So a persons understanding is partial and incomplete and from this we judge and choose. This is the authority that we give the self, to live life incompletely by escaping and discriminating against the true reality of the moment. A person must "see" the reaction of self in the moment in order to realize a consciousness that is beyond "what was". To realize this freedom is to find peace that cannot be imagined.

Peace in the Moment

We were walking through the streets of a quaint and beautiful coastal town. It was a street fair filled with people out for a Sunday of fun and entertainment. The streets were lined with vendors, selling all sorts of gadgets and potions. It is interesting how the mind seeks out that which will give it a sense of well being. We are conflicted physically and psychologically so we seek remedies outside the self. We are exposed to objects, ideas, formulas and potions that are expounded by those that are seeking money, power, and influence. In turn we are also required to hawk our own wares and beliefs. We want to have meaning in life, to acquire and to find comfort and peace. But the mind that is caught in the circle of acquiring and projecting can never realize peace that is not a result. Peace is a not a product to be obtained through an act of will or a metaphysical discipline. Peace is always there, but we block it with our selfishness and greed. To negate is to be iconoclastic in ones approach to the understanding of the moment. It is to allow the raw reality of the moment without making it a conscious effort of will, which is the activity of a mind that is trapped by belief as the promotion of a self that thinks it knows.

An iconoclast is selfless, one who destroys the illusion of a life lived in the confusion and contradiction of a self centered existence. Self centered means living an existence that is centered around ones conditioned thought process. Thought processes that are the result of a persons exposure to life experiences that become ones source of identification. Identification with ideals whether spiritual, political, or psychological. These ideals define a person through the vehicle of belief and non-belief.

When a person becomes attached psychologically to a belief then they look and see only through that belief or ideal. A person tries to live the fantasy of a belief which they project into the moment. The moment has no belief, it is our illusion that gives the belief substance. You can believe in all sorts of religious and new age remedy's for what ails you, but it is only a trick of the mind that is seeking to escape the moment. There is never satisfaction with what is provided by a belief. The mind is seeking to expand that belief in hope of finding further relief from physical and/or psychological pain and conflict. It never crosses our mind that the remedies are actually part of the origin of all pain and conflict. If we did realize fully and completely the origin and depth of our illusion then we would negate instantly all that is the self that thinks it knows.

The outcome of negation is freedom. Not freedom from some ideal or belief, but freedom that is the realization of the very mechanism that creates illusion. Seeing into the depths of a mind that lives in a fog of uncertainty and fear. If you can realize your own fear in the moment and see that wholeness lies not in belief or non-belief but in acceptance and love that is the reality of the truth of the absolute moment.