The Many Faces of the One

  What is this?

Who am I?

The Many Faces of the One: article 7  - the unpublished esoteric writings and works of an aging yogi.

"I am Spirit. I am free. I am free from past, present and future. I am free from all constructs, concepts, conditions and circumstances. I am free from the appearance and disappearance of all creation and its myriad of forms. I am free from the duality of subject and object. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am Spirit. I am free. I am free from all opinions, views, labels, ideas and names. I am free from how others see or think of me. I am free from how I see and think of myself. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me.

I am Spirit. I am free. I am not how others see or think of me. I am not how I see or think of myself. I am not the appearance and disappearance of all creation and its myriad of forms. I am not the false impression of doer-ship or the duality of subject and object. I am not the mental and physical faculties of the mind and body. These things do not limit me or imprison me. They cannot hurt me or destroy me. They do not define me." Only God is Real as the eternal and ever-present 'I-am'.

            continuing from the compiled writings and works of article 6:

 

THE SACRED NOWNESS of 'I AM'

We could say and potentially agree that experience is really only ever happening now in the moment of experiencing and in the knowing of experiencing rather than anywhere else beyond the now-ness of 'I am', and yet the individualized mind creates for us the mental impression, concept and idea of time, form, distance and space. It creates and projects the sensory impression, concept and idea of time, form, distance and space on to all that is being experienced in experiencing and having now and the knowing of experience. The mind creates the mental impression, concept and idea of distance, past, present, time and future as a playing out of mental constructs, situations, dramas, conditions and formations. It is only with the individualized and conditioned mind are these things present, seen and known in our experience of experiencing and knowing experience, and this includes mind-consciousness. I would say, no mind, no experience, and no phenomenal world; no perception of time, form or space. Only 'I am'. No-thing to speak of or know. No suffering or end of suffering. No ignorance or end of ignorance. No bondage or liberation. Only 'emptiness' as that which is real. This being the 'I-am' of I am.

Therefore as an aspiring and fully committed atman-yogi we can ask of ourselves in the contemplative and meditative stillness and silence of 'I-am', 'what is actually real, permanent and substantial in us having and knowing experience?'

What is this?

Who am I?

Yes, the presence of 'now' is always present to us in some transitory and ever-changing form of experiencing and knowing experience but rarely does what is experienced and known remain permanently the same. We all know that the sensory realms of experience and experiencing are always changing. Certainly all our day-to-day lives appear to be governed, conditioned, marked and shaped by change and transition. It would appear that all of conceptual and cognitive life is marked, conditioned and shaped by change and impermanence. Change can have the appearance of being inescapable, no matter how much we attempt to grasp and hold on to things, forms, conditions, events and experiences including individualized thoughts, moods, emotions and feelings, especially the ones we desire and want to keep the most. 

What appears real to us, is only a temporary mind-made construct or mental impression of experiencing and knowing as a result of sensory perception, sense objects and mind-consciousness. It has no separate and permanent reality or truth of its own. We only really experience an ever-changing phenomenal world with the presence of mind-consciousness - the knowing faculty of experiencing and experience. Even taste, smell, touch, hearing, seeing and thinking are perceived with the mind and mind-consciousness. Names, concepts and labels are attached to experience and experiencing rather than those mental objects existing as really being those things. We could say, 'emptiness' or 'no-thingness', is all there is, but it is pretty obvious to us that we still experience it as being an expression of something conditioned, changing, sensory and tangible. What we emotionally invest and buy into is not as real and meaningful as we would like to think it is, and yet we all agree that something is definitely happening as an experience of experiencing and knowing experience and there is a known and conscious awareness and knowing of this experience. How we interpret, think and conclude what that experience is, as we know it, can differ from person to person. It can differ from moment to moment, from day to day and from situation to situation. All experience and experiencing is mind and mind-consciousness, and our mental conditioning and mindset will determined how we choose to interpret it, even at an unconscious level. So even the mind cannot fully serve us in the genuine knowing of 'I-am'.

What is this?

Who am I?

 

NOT BEING FOOLED BY THE CONDITIONED MIND 

 

It would be absolutely foolish of me or anyone to suggest that nothing is happening in our individualized awareness, experience and embodied knowing of experience, when clearly something is. Experience is, whether we agree or disagree on what it is. Our interpretations, ideas, views and opinions might differ on what experience is, but I think most of us would agree that something is known as an experience of knowing and experiencing, although it's flavor, form and context might differ depending on the one who is having and perceiving experience. 

What I mean by this, is, experience as it is presented at any given time or moment might be agreeable or disagreeable or even neutral to us, depending on our mental conditioning, interpretations, desires, urges, opinions, beliefs, views and preferences. But in a way I would state that in fact 'no-thing' is what really is happening even though we experience it as 'something' that is. What is overlooked is what is actually meant by the use of  'no-thing', or should I say 'no-thingness'. What I mean by this is, 'I am. Life is.' Nothing more than is. Nothing needs to happen and yet everything can and does happen. Nothing needs to change, and yet everything can and does change. Nothing needs to be and yet everything can be. Nothing needs to be done and yet all things can and are done. Nothing needs to become and be and yet forms, worlds, creations, events and realms can and do become and be. Plain and simple. Everything is 'emptiness' despite the appearances of forms, constructs and phenomena. What we experience as being forms, constructs and phenomena lack any real permanence. This is why we say they are unreal. All phenomena come into being and disappear form being.

What Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening is asking of us as an aspiring and committed atman-yogi is to 'see things for what they really are' beyond the worldly trappings, demands limitations and entanglements of the mind/body experience. It is a letting go of what we have assumed or been told to believe of reality, experience and identity. It is an authentic invitation to discover directly and intimately for ourselves, with the use of objectiveless awareness and contemplation, what presents itself to us when we temporarily put aside our conditioned identity and attachment with the mind/body experience and the ever-changing phenomenal world. Rather than simply chasing and pursuing experience, we are asked to closely investigate and examine what experiencing and experience actually is from the stillness and silence of 'I-am. Life is'. What is its true essence, source, origin and nature? This includes the mind/body experience and the cause of suffering and the end of suffering. Where and what is the real root and cause of reality, experience and identity? What is this stuff called life? Energy? Spirit?

     What is real and permanent? What truth is there is the esoteric statement that 'Only God is Real'?

What is this?

Who am I?

Yes, clearly and obviously something is happening in our experience and the knowing of experience, and yes, there appears to be a subject that experiences it and attempts to make sense of the phenomenal world, and all its ever-changing worldly events, dramas, forms, creations and situations, as an object of experience, but who is it that is actually having experience? What is it that is aware of 'now' as an experience with all its ever-changing phenomena, creations and forms? Who or what is it that feels and knows either joy or sorrow, gain or loss, praise or blame, success or failure, pleasure or pain, birth or death in relationship to all that the phenomenal world is or is not? Who is it that seeks to acquire and have permanent happiness, reward and contentment as a moment to moment experience only to find them to be temporary visitors in our ever-changing experience? Who is it that can get frustrated and seeks to be free of the never-ending worldly demands, changes and challenges of life only again to find themselves seemingly imprisoned and plagued by worldly limitations, expectations, demands, failures and disappointments? Where does all this suffering originate? Where is the beginning of suffering and end of suffering? Does it simply begin and end with so-called the mind?

I simply presents these esoteric questions of self-inquiry and self-reflection as examples of what has plagued, challenged and tormented my mind over the years and years of informal and formal spiritual practice and self-inquiry into the truth of reality, experience and identity. Would I have had enough blind faith to simply approach self-inquiry into the nature of reality, experience and identity with only the meditative and contemplative suggestion of 'Only God is Real' as the untouched and untainted 'I-am'? This I cannot know or say with all certainty. This statement of 'Only God is Real' as the ever-present and eternal 'I-am', has only come to me as a genuine consequence and result of my personal spiritual commitments and on-going driving passion for spiritual self-inquiry and Self-realization. So I'm not in a position to say. Any yet I stand by it as truth, that Only God is Real. 'I-am'. Life is'. 

All is the 'I-am' of I am.

The Truth is so simple and obvious when truly seen and recognized and yet the individualized mind doesn't give itself up so readily or easily. It has invested too much emotionally in the illusions and false promises of conceptual and conditioned life and the ego, the temporary mental construct of individuality, conditionality and separateness, which relies on keeping this lie alive so as to prosper and gain potential power and control over the world, events and others. As I know it to be, personal power, status, self-importance, fame, praise and ownership of others plays no part in the genuine quest for  esoteric Self-realization. It is a palpable and intimate silence and stillness that is free of all things.

THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD

As we can all come to know in this life of appearances and phenomena is that change can happen in a flash, and our limited and embodied lives can be over and done with in a flash too, and yet amazingly the human spirit of our humanity seeks to have more, be more and do more regardless. Very few of us become mentally or physically immobilized by the fear and becoming of old age, loss, decay, sickness, lack and death. We know it will come and yet we still continue to live out our lives, get caught up and attached to all that life is and is not. Again there is nothing wrong in this. I do not present these esoteric contemplative and meditative writings and works so as to get down on life. Life can be and is very beautiful, and yet at the same time it can be brutally beautiful, especially when what we like and love is taken from us. These esoteric contemplative and meditative writings and works into the nature of reality, experience and identity are presented so we can see things for what they really are and then to fully live, love and play out our embodied and sacred lives from this knowing, knowledge and wisdom of pure 'Spirit'. It is a genuine invitation to fully embrace all of life in this Truth of 'I-am'. 

 

We can all ask of ourselves in the stillness and silence of spiritual self-inquiry, contemplation and meditation, "is the phenomenal world and all its ever-changing dramas, events and situations really the on-going playing out of 'emptiness'? And if so, "who is the one that recognizes this truth of experience?

    Is there really a permanent state of happiness to be gained that is unconditioned and unchanging?

We too can all ask ourselves directly of experience and experiencing, "what is the mind, and what is the source of the mind? Who is the one that is silently aware of the idea and concept of mind? Who is this 'I' that recognizes and knows all experience and experiencing? Who or what is it that seeks to be permanently happy, rewarded, satisfied, fearless and fulfilled in all that life is in any given moment of experience and experiencing? What is my true permanent nature, reality and identity?

What is suggested here in the spiritual exploration and self-inquiry of Self-realization and Spiritual-awakening is that what is appearing to happen in the act of experiencing is only the mental tendencies and conditions of the mind/body experience, and when the mind/body experience is actually examined and investigated for what it is, we only find an ever-changing bundle of thoughts and mental impressions that have no real substance of permanence. It is all transitory and conditioned by change. Therefore, strongly and emotionally investing in that which is impermanent and unreal will only ever result in disappoint in the end. We are once again left seeking permanent happiness, fulfilment, reward, assurance and peace in that which is always changing. What Atman-Yoga is suggesting to us that true abiding and lasting happiness, fulfilment, reward, assurance, plenitude, beauty and peace come from the spiritual and transcendental knowing and knowledge of 'I-am'. Life is.' Only God is Real. This is not something to be created, acquired, made or gained. It already is and it is our true nature, reality and identity. It is the 'I-am' of I am. It is the one ever-present Truth of reality, experience and identity. Like I stated. it is a palpable, enduring and ever-present silence and stillness that is untouched and untainted by the comings and goings of all things, creations, dramas and phenomena.

EMBRACING THE REAL

As I've already suggested and repeated, it is all 'emptiness' appearing as mind, appearing as body, appearing as -mind-consciousness, and appearing as the phenomenal world of things, dramas, events, phenomena, creations and forms. This might appear complex in its execution but really it is a spiritual revelation and release in that it frees the individualized embodied mind from what appears to be limiting, personal, real, painful, concrete, lacking and troublesome. In fully recognizing and realizing, in the moments of grasping, clinging and fear, that our interpretations, beliefs, views and ideas of experience is something that is largely a self-made mental construct and projection of the mind rather than what reality, experience and identity really are in those moments, is the spiritual and transcendental step that brings us closer and closer to our own innate and permanent state of freedom, immortality, bliss, plenitude, beauty, wholeness, love and peace. We stop seeking permanence in that which is impermanent. We stop objectifying and attaching our desire and neediness for permanent reward, wholeness, pleasure and gratification on that which is always changing. We find a fulfilling and genuine refuge, reliance and assurance in that which is real, enduring, unlimited, boundless and permanent - the unchanging and inexhaustible Deathless Self. 'I-AM'. We abide and identify with the Absolute.

 

We stop making others responsible for how we think, act and feel. We stop making others responsible for our desire and need for love, acceptance, purpose, wholeness, self-worth, reward, intimacy and meaning. We come to realize and know that peace, love, freedom, beauty, plenitude, intimacy, bliss and self-acceptance are not to be created, found, acquired, made, controlled and gained. They already are our true undying essence, source, origin and nature. Then we know we are love, peace, beauty, plenitude, intimacy, bliss and freedom itself, which no one will have the ability, right or power to threaten, destroy or take away. It relies on no-thing outside of itself. It is completely self-reliant and self-sufficient. This is why we describe it as inexhaustible and boundless. It is not made so it cannot be broken. It is not created so it cannot be destroyed. It is not acquired therefore it cannot be taken away. It is not formed or conditioned therefore it is completely free of all things and phenomena. It cannot be limited because its essence and nature is boundless. This is the truth of 'I-am'. This is the genuine esoteric message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is. All reality and identity are this.

Yes, there is a temporary and conditioned happiness to be found in the reward, gain or giving up of certain sensory objects and experiences but this too will come to pass. This is the empty and unreal nature of all worldly and unworldly things and dramas. It is this spiritual realization and insight into the way things really are that frees us from the painful and limiting illusory grip and trappings of a dual and ever-changing life. We can truly, intimately and fully be in the world and yet at the same time, completely free of the world and all its creations. Living, loving, accepting, sharing, having intimacy and letting go. No longer seeking permanence in that which is always changing. Not being attached and identified with that which is unreal, ever-changing and transitory. We come to live, embodied and know peace, love, beauty, plenitude, intimacy, bliss and freedom as our true undying essence, source, origin and nature. Knowing Only God is Real as the eternal, ever-present and boundless 'I-am'.

I am the 'I-am' of I am.

'Emptiness is our true effortless essence, origin and nature; all things and creations reside and have their being in 'emptiness'. Every form and phenomena appears, moves and disappears through and within 'emptiness'; coming from now-here and going to now-here. 'Emptiness' is within each one of us and each one of us are within 'emptiness'. In fact, 'emptiness' is all that there is. Even to say within or without is incorrect. Once this is authentically and fully recognizes and known all can be as it is.' This is the highest spiritual perception and knowledge of reality, experience and identity. It is the highest embodied knowing of a fully realized atman-yogi - the Deathless Yogi. This is one who is always abiding and identifying with the Absolute. Never coming from anywhere and never going anywhere.

             This is the supreme esoteric message of Atman-Yoga. The Deathless Self alone is.

Atman-Yoga Daily Mantra: 'I am. Life is'. I am one with all life and all life is one with 'I-am'. Oneness in body. Oneness in mind. Oneness in all things."

Atman-Yoga Daily Meditation: 'Only God is Real.'

Song of the Deathless Yogi:

                                        I am 'emptiness'. All is 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is all. 

                                    Form is 'emptiness'. Only 'emptiness'. 'Emptiness' is form'.

 

This esoteric blog is dedicated to my earthly mother 'Rita' who transitioned on the 12th December 2021. A truly selfless, kind, beautiful and loving embodied soul, friend and mother.