The following questions and answers have all been fished directly from the Thought Pool and typed out while they were still wet and flapping about. The question will likely arise, 'Who is asking the questions? Who is answering?' A very good question! As usual, when we really look closely into it, we have no idea who is doing either.
Q: So if there is no 'I', why do so many Masters advise us to focus on the 'I AM'?
A: Go try that and notice what happens. The moment that 'I am' is apprehended without anything following it, such as 'I am this body' or 'I am God' or 'I am Consciousness' or 'I am Awareness' or 'I am indescribable' or 'I am Nothing' etc. then it immediately ceases to have any meaning. The verb 'to be' is entirely redundant without a following object (whether that object is a solid body or abstract entity). So instead of asserting 'I am', thought might at this point just as well be saying 'I am not', or hooting like a gibbon, or not saying anything at all. At that point The Game is up, the Illusion over. It is immediately clear that the whole darn thing was just some imaginary nonsense, with the 'I am' assumption as both its beginning and its end. And thus voices will also be heard saying that 'I am' is the Source of All That Is, God, the Creator, the Alpha and the Omega, blah de blah, yada yada, [INSERT OTHER THOROUGHLY IMPRESSIVE SOUNDING THINGS HERE] - and that all sounds really groovy and jolly important while the Illusion is still considered to be real and while that 'I am' assumption still remains unexamined. Once it has been examined, the absurdly comical nature of The Game is obvious. Perhaps that is why it is so often told that realization is accompanied by a great deal of laughter, gradually fading to total silence.
Q: Don't we need to study or work hard at spiritual practice to attain Enlightenment?
A: Which takes more effort: imaginarily rowing across the Atlantic or imaginarily sitting down and listening to the radio? Both take no effort. They are imaginary. And so is anything that happens to or that is done by the 'you' character in this waking dream, including striving for and attaining Enlightenment. No effort is required at all, as the attainment of Enlightenment never really happens to anyone.
Q: All around I keep hearing people saying, 'Just Be!' What do they mean?
A: This is very similar to the instruction to remain with the 'I am' mentioned a few moments ago. When that 'I am' is apprehended without anything following it, such as 'I am this thing' or 'I am that thing', then it can be described as 'just being' rather than 'being something'. There tends to be an intense feeling of love or bliss when that state arises, and that intense feeling is very addictive, so thought, which is always under the delusion that a very pleasurable permanent state of one kind or another can be maintained, tries constantly to attain and maintain that. Like an alcoholic that tries to get those not interested in alcohol to 'just have a drink', so the 'just being' addiction tries to perpetuate itself by drawing in more and more energy from 'others'. But sooner or later, like all addictions, it just consumes itself and the ever-changing ripples of consciousness continue. Any so-called 'spiritual teachers' that are doling out instructions to 'just be' are just sentinels serving the purposes of this addiction. Watch any kind of teaching at all and it can be plainly seen that its sole purpose is self-replication and reproduction.
"Be like this! Be like this! Being like this is good and right. More of this! More of this!" - is essentially the message of each and every teacher.
No state is constantly maintainable. A being addiction will try to argue 'just being is not a state', but it is a state just like any other, one half of the being-non-being duality. This blissful state comes occasionally and goes again, just as all other states do. There isn't anything that 'you' can do to bring it about, or to maintain it constantly if it has come about, or to prevent it from occasionally coming about, as there isn't any 'you' and there never has been. Day comes sometimes, night comes sometimes. Summer comes sometimes, winter comes sometimes. Being something or someone comes sometimes, just being comes sometimes, non-being comes sometimes.
None of this belongs to anyone, any more than the wind and the rain belong to someone.
Q: But aren't you just handing out a teaching like everyone else?
A: This particular 'teaching' frequently comes with the reminder that it is all nonsense and can safely be totally ignored. These answers are of absolutely no value to anyone, as there isn't anyone for whom they could be of value. It is rather like a culture of disease-causing bacteria that bring along their own course of anti-biotics. And whenever the nonsense questions stop arising, the nonsense answers will also. There isn't anything that needs to be known. There isn't anything that needs to be learned. There isn't anything that needs to be taught. No question needs to be answered. There are no needs at all.
Q: Shouldn't we try to cultivate detachment and observe as Pure Awareness?
A: There's that S word again! Where is this 'we' character that can either cultivate or not cultivate anything? Where is this 'we' character that is capable of adopting this perspective or that perspective? If that character can ever be found, then the question can be addressed. But until then, the question is absurd. It is rather like the Emperor character in the story being asked what colour his imaginary new clothes ought to be.
Q: So why do you bother to look after your children?
A: I don't. Parent human bodies are biologically programmed to look after children human bodies (unless something has gone a bit awry with the wiring, which happens from time to time). They cannot stop themselves. No 'I' is necessary just as no 'I' needs to make sure that the heart keeps beating or the alimentary canal keeps digesting food.
Q: So why do so many gurus talk of joy and bliss?
A: It's just a trick to lure in the ever-greedy seekers just before cutting off their heads.
Q: The other day you were comparing the story of enlightenment to the Lord of the Rings. Can you explain more?
A: The 'I Am' is the equivalent of the One Ring. Firm establishment in the 'I Am' is a God-like position, all powerful, and brings with it a feeling of bliss. This is potentially extremely addictive and extremely difficult to let go. Remember Gollum desperately trying to get back 'his Precious'. The same desperation will be seen in Sprirtual Seekers who have had a glimpse of Oneness, perhaps in a Peak Experience moment, but it has only lasted a short while. They will be desperately trying to get it back again and will follow all kinds of weird and wonderful 'paths' in that quest to get back The Precious.
The humble hobbits understand that once that 'I Am' is attained, it too has to be destroyed, cast into the fire of Mount Doom, after which the spectre of God-like control is gone for good. But even Frodo did not want to destroy the ring when it came to the crunch. He had become addicted too.
And so eventually it was just a simple turn of fate, an accident, that led to the end of The Precious 'I Am' and liberated Middle Earth from its tyrrany.
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