Advaita Post #12-15 - When you identify yourself with something...

Volume 12 No 15 (October 1, 2011)

--- When you identify yourself with something, the fate of that something is your own fate ---

Do you recognize the non-duality?

*

Self Realization is being-awareness of everything.

So, as long as you still have a viewpoint and as long as you still focus on something, you are mistaken.

It's about the falling away of that structure.

In the core of yourself that structure is not present.

Within it being-awareness is being-awareness of everything.

*

Text

Becoming aware of your being-awareness

From a talk with Douwe Tiemersma on Schiermonnikoog, evening June 13, 2010

Part 2 - The self-scattering identifications

The turning within takes place from out of your own scatteredness?

Yes, see how much your own self-being is scattered in all kinds of things that you find important, things you think belong to your individual life. These are, for example, all the things of your past, all the things you have done, in which you have invested yourself, the people in whom you've invested. Also these are the things and people against whom you have a resistance and the things in the future to which you've attached yourself. Now all those scattered pieces of yourself can return to the origin of who you are and the one who has invested himself in innumerable things. When these pieces return, you experience your wholeness very directly. Your self-being returns to its natural state and that is a state of wholeness, completeness.

Then what about the body?

The body is a whole set of phenomena in which you also have invested a great deal of your self-being, so the self-being will have to withdraw there, too. When you turn within to the insight level and you become aware of yourself there, you confirm that you are no longer situated in the gross physical body. Then your physical self-being is already quite different. The gross body is either not present or is present in such a way so that it no longer has an effect upon you. You have, then, an insight body. So that's what you get with every ongoing self-meditation: with the inward turning motion you become more aware of yourself as self-consciousness. On the insight level so much has already been released. You experience this shift in your center of gravity on the spiritual path. Everyone notices it: you're no longer stressed by all the things that you used to worry you. Why? Because your investment in them has been withdrawn. The identity of yourself with this and that, with things that you thought belonged to you, is released, the identification no longer exists. You are free. For years you have collected stamps, invested a lot of money in it and at some point you realize that it's no longer valuable. I know people who are incredibly frustrated by this. Why? Because they have invested so much of their own self-being. When you keep the same structure and you stay stuck at the same level, obviously you are frustrated when it appears that now it is worthless. When you are positioned there, you experience that you are worthless. Then you understand why people put a bullet in their head when the prices of stocks fall. Why? Because they suddenly saw that their own investments were worthless, so they saw themselves as worthless. When you identify with something, the fate of that something then is your own fate. When that something is no longer valuable, then you yourself are no longer valuable. That's how it works. Most people feel that very strongly with respect to their own bodies. When the body gets sick, they themselves are sick one hundred percent. When the body deteriorates, they deteriorate and when the body dies, they die. So then your fate is identical with your physical body. That is result of the self-scattering identification.

Can't you still strive for something?

Sure, you can have everything. But remain aware of your whole situation. What does the situation look like? When you strive for something, you have a particular goal. So you identify with your aspirations and already you have identified at least partially with the goal that corresponds to them. When the goal is not reached you fail, so then you are frustrated. When such a question arises, go directly to how things are with yourself. Is there an open self-being? No, because there is an identification with the striving and with the goal. And just take a look at what that produces. When other people try to hold you back from your aspirations, then they are bad people. When the goal is very important to you, you're capable of anything. See how that works.

You have to get to know the geography of the area of your own life so as not to get stuck. That kind of knowledge is considerably more difficult than learning the physical geography of the world. Why? Because the landscape of your existence-world is constantly changing and you are constantly changing along with it. You continue to exist in different ways. So most of these structures are not very stable. They are dynamic and still you will need to take a look at it. Now, that requires a clear consciousness, a lot of inquiry and a lot of experience. What do you mean when you say that some elderly people are wise? Yes, in the course of their lifetime, through scandal and loss, they have learned many important things about their own way of living: the forms their world had and now has, everything that can happen and what is foolish and what is sensible. In their wisdom they see a lot and, when all goes well, they become free. Learn from them to get insight into your own situation. Become free by pulling your scattered identifications back into yourself