WITruth Post

2001-11-5 04:00:00

WITruth made a post that came through unreadable because of the HTML format so I edited it and am herewith sending it in text.

Can empty mind is also clear, Without thought there is no fear.

Dear JJ,

As Franklin D said, and your article implies, We have nothing to fear itself! (or perhaps, as Pogo suggested, We have met he enemy and he is us!

Your discussion of relative and absolute assurance is right on the mark JJ, and quite appropriate to paranoia in any and all forms, be it occasioned by nuclear waste, terrorist attacks, or anthrax letters. But paranoia itself is nothing more than obsessive fear, fear unjustified in terms of any reasonable probability of threat occurrence. The crux of the matter, however, is not the object of fear, but its subject For though potential objects of fear -- once Pandora's little mental box is open -- are legion (as the hidden dangers of your routine shopping trip clearly reveal) the subject of fear is always one. As such, if we are to ever realize our innate fearless (peace), I would suggest that we seek the source of fear at its root, that with a single stroke we might cut off an endless multitude of potentially dark and deadly flowers.

Your rightful condemnation of evil, harmfulness and separatism bears truth. For fear is a direct function of the self-fragmenting effects of egocentric thought, sense and feeling. It arises quite naturally with the fundamental sense of separation and alienation, both from ones surroundings and oneself, that all such thought engenders. Furthermore, that which might be termed evil or harmfulness is nothing more than wrongful action based on the false conclusions of carnal mind (egocentric consciousness) and, ultimately, its equally false premise of self-existence separate and apart from all creation (not to mention the Absolute State, Condition or Being).

Quite simply, I am afraid because I think of myself as a subject separate and distinct from you as an object and, ultimately, the Whole (Subject/Object) of which we are both a necessary and integral part. I fear a loss of self, of being, of existence, of presence, of consciousness in the face of all I wrongly conclude to be other than I am. I am afraid. But what if I had no sense of being other than you in the first place, no feeling of being this to the exclusion of that, no thought of any separation (or limitation) whatsoever? How then could I be afraid, and of what? There would only be me, and nothing to fear but myself. Well, if that's the message existential fear delivers, than what's the fix? In theory, it's easy. Simply stop thinking of yourself as being separate and apart, as being this to the exclusion of that, as being other than the One I AM. All you need do is Take no thought (Jesus); Be Still and Know (Psalms 46-10); and Be in the I Amness* state without words. (Nisargadatta). All actions -- inactions or non-doings actually -- which will lead us back to a state of pure existential being; a state pre-existing self-reflective conception. (*I Amness 3D sense, feeling or knowledge of existence, being, consciousness or presence, prior to self-reflective thought.)

In a very real sense, it's a kind of addition by subtraction in which the mental movement implied in minding this to the exclusion of that is allowed to slow down.** This, in turn, allows us to re-establish conscious contact with the space between the thoughts, the ocean beneath the waves, the sky underlying the clouds. (** Much in the way that a rapidly spinning fan blade appears solid until it slows down, so slowing down the mind's mental movement allows us see beyond its blades of thought.) OK, so all I have to do is stop (or at least slow) thinking. Simple in theory, but extremely difficult in practice. Why? Because there's one big Catch 22 (isn't there always?). For how can I as a thought (ego concept) ever stop thinking when I myself am part and parcel of that self-same thought process? Obviously, I can't! The actual fact is I can do absolutely nothing to help myself out of the mental hole I am constantly digging myself into. At least no directly, and certainly not while I remain hopelessly identified with an ego-centrically driven stream of consciousness Quite simply, I am stuck. I, of mine own self, can do nothing. I can only stop doing anything. Caught in the middle of this raging mental torrent, I can only stop clinging to myself as a thought. I can only let go of myself go with the flow of life and trust it. This by stepping out of the thought process itself, and that by ceasing to identify with the stream of conscious life that carries me who knows where. Not by becoming a monk and heading for the nearest cave, nor by becoming a recluse and retreating to the forest or mountains, physical or spiritual. No, rather by letting go, giving up any and all expectation, becoming unattached to this or that, living in the present moment, and accepting all that is, as it is.

All of which can only be accomplished by cultivating present minded awareness (mindfulness*** in Buddhist terms); a witnessing attitude, in which one enjoys the show, but remains unattached to any action or outcome. Not by dropping out of life, but dropping in. Not by maintaining mental walls of imagined self-protection, but dropping any and all such walls and dropping back in. (***Mindfulness of what? The present moment, of course!)

Perhaps then it will become perfectly obvious that fear is nothing more than a temporary state of consciousness, and that I, as a field of pure unadulterated awareness, can in no way know myself as That if I remain identified with any temporary state. For so long as I insist on exclusive identification with any particular physical, emotional, mental or spiritual state, so long shall I remain in bondage to the one I think I am (finite and fearful) and so fail to know the One I AM (fundamental and fearless) in Spirit and Truth.

So exactly where does this leave me? Where else? Back in the middle again, to quote the Beatles. Back where I always am, here and now, contemplating that most fundamental of questions: Who Am I? Am I my body, my emotions, my mind, my thoughts, my feelings, my sensations? Am I only what I have been taught to think I am? Am I merely a temporary state of mind and body, insignificant in the face of infinity; a momentary spark of self-awareness and light in the face of eternal non-existence and darkness as partial thought and sense report? Is that all there is? Is that all I am? Dare I suggest a more outrageous (though obvious) possibility? Could it be that we all, individually and collectively, are eternally one with that self-same Absolute State which necessarily and logically pre-exists any and all temporal and finite energy states? Might we not all be absolutely one with That one ultimate mental/spiritual space which necessarily underlies all conscious awareness (as sky clouds and ocean waves)? Might we not all, each and every one of us, be one with that proverbial Ancient of Days who even now peeks out from our own unique individual perspective. That same One who as Father scares the hell out of us, as Mother assures us we are loved, and as Son realizes and exclaims I am That I AM! A simple question anyone can ask, but only YOU can answer. Not by intellectual reflection or conjecture, but through existential experience. The price is great (I as I think I am), but the pearl is priceless (I as I AM).

RFH

PS 1: In unity there is peace, in duality there is not.
PS 2: The single-eye of the tornado is still, its devastating whirlwinds are not.
PS 3: The center is single, still, silent and at peace.
PS 4: Or, as wise man once said. "A fast mind is sick, a slow mind healthy, and a still mind divine."