Newsletter #1, May 31, 2006

From the preface:

This book further addresses common questions and doubts which often arise in response to this “message” and continually points out the ways in which the “ego” or assumed separate entity (the person) becomes a reference point through which pure experiencing is interpreted and evaluated. It appears that, for many (apparent) people, pure livingness becomes a story with goals to be achieved and problems to be avoided.

For some, the discomfort with this story and its accompanying sense of separation leads to a search for deeper meaning or perhaps an escape from the story. This search may lead to a rediscovery of awareness and pure experiencing as being both the source and destination of life – THIS livingness. It may be recognized that one's life story can become a conceptual distraction away from the ever present livingness and that what we are truly seeking is already here and can only be found here in this moment – not in an imagined future as a result of a planned course of action by an assumed separate character.

Despite this recognition, it seems that there is a tendency for many “seekers” to temporarily see the truth of this, yet continually “lose” the understanding or find objections to it arising based on their life experiences.

The writings and dialogs in this book may clarify that this sought-after understanding or recognition is not something that can be gained or lost by an individual person, but rather that the understanding, the person, and the gaining or losing of understanding by the person are all concepts arising and dissipating in awareness which is the ever present source and totality of all experiencing. Our apparent objections to this, or inability to see it continuously, are all based upon concepts and the belief in the life story of “me” – this apparent separate entity developing over time.

If this is seen clearly, it naturally leads into an investigation into the nature of this apparent “I” at the center of all activity. It may be seen that all apparent problems only exist in relation to this reference point of “I”.

The common belief is that this “I” possesses awareness (or the capability to be aware) and that the “I” is an object or entity existing within time and space. The “I” is separate from the “rest of the world” or that which is “not I”. In continually making decisions of what to do or not to do, the “I” exercises its volition, or free will.

This book continually points its readers to examine their own direct experience to see if the following can be verified:

• Awareness is the ground of all being, all experiencing, and is not something separate from it in any way. All experiencing happens within awareness – awareness does not arise from something else.
• Time and space are concepts, neither of which can be separated from the concept of a space-time continuum. All experiencing happens in present awareness whether or not concepts appear which seem to indicate the existence of things or happenings in other times or places. The only “time” and “place” actually ever experienced is located in THIS awareness “here” and “now”.
• The “I” is a concept which seems to arise in time and space. It is an apparent separate entity which appears to act independently from the rest of the world so it depends upon the concepts of separation and volition.
• If all concepts are dropped and one relies only on direct experience, it can be seen that the “I” is just an appearance in and is never actually separate from the present awareness. It is the “I” which comes and goes, not the awareness –despite the common belief of the person that he or she may become more or less in touch with awareness over time.
• All of the objections of the apparent “I” that it is actually something real (apart from the present conceptual appearance of it) rely upon the same concepts of space, time, separation, and volition.
• Awareness is non-conceptual. It exists without regard to whether or not any concepts are appearing in it and no concept can actually affect the awareness itself.
• Any concern about the “I” – about its well-being or its existence or non-existence, appearance or disappearance – is just more concepts appearing in this awareness.
• All problems are ultimately conceptual. When the underlying concepts are seen as real, the problems seem very real. When the concepts are recognized to be just concepts, the problems may also be recognized as only concepts.

If the above is verified in one's own experience without reliance upon concepts, it may be seen that there is nothing that needs to be done and no one to either do or not do anything. Any heavy life stories can drop away. Without the weight of concepts, the play of life carries on.