The Seer

Our apparently objective experience consists of thoughts, sensations and perceptions — that is, the mind, body and world.

When Awareness ‘takes the shape’ of thinking, it seems to become a thought. When it ‘takes the shape’ of sensing, it seems to become a body and when it ‘takes the shape’ of perceiving, it seems to become an object, other or world.

When thinking comes to an end, the apparently objective part of it (the thought part) disappears but its substance, Awareness, remains. In that timeless moment (timeless because the mind is not present) Awareness tastes itself as it is, unmediated through the apparent objectivity of thought. This experience is known as Understanding.

When sensing comes to an end, the apparently objective part of it (the sensation or body part) disappears but its substance, Awareness, remains, knowing itself as Love or Happiness. And when perceiving comes to an end, the object, other or world disappears but their substance, Awareness, remains, knowing itself as it is, unveiled by the appearance of objects. That is the experience known as Beauty.

In other words, Understanding, Love, Happiness and Beauty are all different names for one and the same experience, the presence of Awareness, the knowing of our own Being.

The paths through Understanding and Love (the paths of Jnana and Bhakti) are well documented but the path through perceiving is less often mentioned. The path of perceiving or the Way of Beauty is the way of the artist. It’s a path through which it becomes clear, and the means through which it is expressed, that the substance of all perceptions is made out of Awareness.

Although all seeming objects are made out of Awareness, it is not, at a relative level, the function of all objects to reveal this. For instance, the purpose of a kettle is to boil water, not to reveal the true nature of experience.

However, there is one category of objects, which are made specifically with the intention of revealing the true nature of experience and such an object is what we call a work of art. The function of a work of art is not simply to point towards, but actually to reveal the true nature of experience. As Cezanne said, to ‘give us a taste of Eternity.’

Like the words of the teaching, such objects come pregnant with their origin, the silence and love from which they originate and, as such, are tremendously powerful. So, Beauty is the experience through which we come to know and feel that all seeming things are made out of That which knows them.

Keats was right. ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty.’ The experience of Truth and Beauty are one and the same experience. ‘That is all ye know on earth.’ The mind (which is the expression of Truth) and the world (which is the expression of Beauty) are one. That is, the apparent ‘knower’ and the apparently ‘known’ are one.

Whether we recognize it or not, this is always our experience. It is, as Keats says, ‘all ye know on earth’ — the knowing of our own Being in and as all seeming things. ‘…and all ye need to know.’ Yes, this knowledge alone, if deeply considered and made one’s own and subsequently applied to all circumstances, is all that is required to lead a sane, happy and loving life. Keats was rather more economical with his words than I am!

The great artists of the past, of whom Keats was one, were perhaps the vehicles through which this knowledge was communicated most powerfully in our culture but it is not their provenance alone.

This experiential knowledge of the true nature of experience is, in fact, known by all but sometimes seemingly forgotten. However, it is never far from the surface and even in popular culture — music, fashion etc. — we see this same longing for Love, Beauty and Happiness, all of which are simply variations of our longing to return to the true nature of our most intimate being.

When this Love, Beauty and Happiness is seemingly veiled by the appearance of the ‘I’ entity, it cries out all the more loudly. All around us in our culture we hear these ‘love cries’ all desperately searching in the wrong place for what lies at their heart.

~ To read the complete interview: >>>Click Here

~ by Rupert Spira

And so
there is only One
all else is illusion
construction in mind
there is nothing happening here
there is only
One Being Awareness

stillness silence perfection
and in the stillness
a breathing perhaps
as if
there is only One
breathing

and all this is that breathing
all this is That
we are That
we are that One
yet not -
not even we are One
because there is no we
only One

I Am That
And That is All

and That is the Brilliance
which all this is -
life death love anguish
compassion understanding healing
light

the Brilliance within
where the Heart opens and there is
Nothing
no self no one
only aching beauty
and overwhelming gratitude

Outpouring

~ To hear the complete poem by the ‘david carse‘ thing, from the book: Perfect Brilliant Stillness, read by the ‘terence stamp’ thing: >>>

href="http://vimeo.com/14902122">Click Here.

They ask me, “How can man and God be one?
It makes no sense; it can’t be understood.”
I answer, “He is all, and all are He!
No other exists but Him; so who are you?”

Becoming one with God is just the realization
Of what is and has always been true.
The self you think you are is only a mirage;
The Self you’ve always been is that eternal One.
We go about in our illusory shells,
Identifying with the dance of atoms,
A mere framework of form and ideas.
But only when He opens wide our inner eye
Is it revealed that we are Him and He is us.

This truth is not so easily perceived;
It’s hidden by the power He wields.
And even when it’s once revealed,
It’s hard to hold; it slips away.
We pray, we concentrate our minds on Him,
And search our inner sky for that all-revealing Sun.
We shut out all distracting thoughts,
And open up our souls to Him.
Yet rarely does the clear light dawn
That shows our own eternal face.

More often we rely on thoughts inspired
That come to us as wisdom from on high.
Our prayers, our yearning hearts, uplift us
To that place where thought runs pure and clear;
And in this way we come to know His presence deep within.
But those who’ve gained His favor know a higher vision still;
His Grace reveals the truth of truths:
The Self of all is “I”!

They ask me, “How can man and God be one?”
I ask them, “In the Unity that is His all-inclusive Self,
How can you imagine there are two?
If nothing else exists but God,
Then who, on earth, are you?

~ by Swami Abhayananda Songs in Praise of God
(Again, apologies for the obvious lack of gender-neutrality in this ’song’ written decades ago. Ed.)