Do Not, "Know Thyself"

Does a realization about your self become knowledge about who you are? Can a person ever truly "know" who they are? There are patterns of thought and habitual repetitive responses that are a product of our environment. It is a process of living that is the result of our instinct for survival. We are able to adapt because we can create a circumstance of repetition that becomes a reliance on or security of. In the mind their is a repetitive thought that becomes an action that in turn defines who we are. But the reality is that we must constantly modify in order to survive because life is not a predictable certainty, although we make assumptions of certainty. Each moment is new and contains the elements of something not known that defies definition and knowing. Because the mind is seeking continuity in knowing, it is unable to realize and grasp the originality of the absolute moment. If the mind can use the repetitive process of thought as a survival mechanism to make a living and be productive and in the same moment realize the illusion of it, then it may be possible to live a life of illumination. Acknowledging the transitory but without the concept of time as permanency. The idea of time as an illusion of thoughts movement is difficult to grasp. You cannot grasp its non-existence as a concept, otherwise you will be lost in a sea of mathematical cause and effect formulations that take you in a never ending circle. It can only be realized intuitively in the moment, because it is beyond the capacities of a mind that is self defined and therefore limited. When there is an emptiness, no self or no mind then there is a possibility of something beyond knowing. But that something can never be a product of thoughts time-bound movement. It is outside the normal activity of a brain that is seeking answers. Buddha alluded to it by negating what it was not, and creating symbolic comparisons that would hint at its immensity. So intuitive realizations are in the moment and pass instantaneously into obscurity. They are not to be sought out as a validation of knowledge to be applied in some future moment. If they are truly a seeing that is absent thoughts conclusions then they will not become a part of a memory to be referenced. It will not be possible for you to recall and reproduce that moment either conceptually or actually. For the mind that is illuminated each succeeding moment is new and untainted by the previous moment. This is why one can never know who one truly is, because the known is the past that is dead and without validity. It takes a mind that can probe deeply and realize a consciousness that is unconditioned by the illusion of time-bound thought.

Many people will read the above and think that it makes no sense at all and is rift with contradiction. But to the mind that is on the threshold of something that is beyond thoughts capacity to know, it provides a glimmer of intuitive light. To try and write or speak about something that cannot be fathomed by the conflict and confusion of a mind that thinks in terms of logic and definition is in essence an impossibility. All one can do is share a realization and communicate it over and over again in different words, in different circumstances, so that perhaps it may open a door or provide some insight. Because what is communicated is not the thing, it only points to a possibility. The individual must realize though their own efforts, so it is an original seeing that in no way mimics or has a resemblance to the past, including the teachings of all Buddha's, Master's, and Guru's. Your illuminated realization is not a copy of anything that has gone on before, it is new and original without the tainted judgemental conclusions of a hierarchy of long dead words and definitions.