RECOGNITION: comments on 5 essential paras
In a Kashmir Shaivism text there is a beautiful story. A man travels to see his beloved, whom he has not seen, only communicated with. He comes upon a woman who serves him water from a well, but he does not recognize her. A sage comes by and points out who she is, and the man’s heart opens. When our heart is open, we can recognize the Overself. When we recognize, our heart opens. The stillness of real being is already and always present, we only need to recognize it. St. Francis: “what you are looking for is the one who is looking.” Awareness does not have to do anything to be aware. Isness is as it is.
Once we realize that awareness, not contents, is what we are, then to be it, we also have to do (be aware) by not doing. Another way to think of it: If this world is God’s Thought, then God’s mind must be present. So there is no where we need to go. If this is a wave, we have to see the water. If it is a film, look for the light. If it is sky, look beyond the clouds. Here are 5 essential quotes on the presence of the Overself.
The Overself is not a goal to be attained but a realization of what already is. It is the inalienable possession of all conscious beings and not of a mere few. No effort is needed to get hold of the Overself, but every effort is needed to get rid of the many impediments to its recognition. We cannot take hold of it; it takes hold of us. Therefore the last stage of this quest is an effortless one. We are led, as children by the hand, into the resplendent presence. Our weary strivings come to an abrupt end. Our lips are made shut and wordless. 22:3.9
COMMENT:
a. The first line is an entire teaching. “Overself is not a goal… but a realization.” As a quest implies something we are seeking, it is natural to think of a goal—whether the goal is union, enlightenment, or “Overself.” Tibetan Buddhism speaks of a ground or beginning, a path, and a goal. But there is also a tradition of tantra which says: take the goal as the path. Here PB tells us that our authentic nature is not a thing, it is a realization. It is not a goal. It is not in the future, and it cannot be achieved. It is not a thing. It is not a noun. It is a verb. It is a state of being.
Self is a realization of what already and always is, the realization or recognition of Is-ness. You can’t become being. You can either recognize it or not. You cannot become life, or become more life. The forms of life change, but life itself is timeless and infinite.
In this quote try using any word you like for Reality to replace Overself: “enlightenment, freedom, Atma, is not a goal … but a realization of what already is.” And play with the word, use a verb: Can you Overself?
b. Overself is the “Inalienable possession of all conscious beings” because it is the essence and nature of consciousness living being. Fact that you are conscious, being, living, is a guarantee of the Overself. These attributes are the nature of Overself being present in and as us.
In this quote try using any word you like for Reality to replace Overself: “enlightenment, freedom, mystery, Atma, is not a goal … but a realization of what already is.” And play with the word, use a verb: Can you Overself?
c. “No effort is needed to get hold of the Overself” however, “every effort is needed to get rid of the many impediments to its recognition.” Here is a second movement of the quote. PB is not saying there is nothing to do. There may or may not be. If we are ready, “no effort is needed,” if not: effort is needed to get rid of “impediments” to recognition. The direct path is to recognize the dimension of Isness, of awareness If we are open enough, if we are ready, we can directly resonate to this truth, and “no effort is needed” for recognition. . If not, our task for now is to get big enough: to remove the impediments to simply recognizing what is. If not: we are still ripening. Although we can really do nothing to create realization, we can create conditions to invite grace, remove the obstacles, prepare ourselves for the Overself to surrender us. It is important here to see what the effort is needed for: not for improvement and change, but recognition.
d. “Therefore the last stage of this quest is an effortless one.” Let yourself be moved. In fact, every moment of life is upheld by the basic presence of the Overself: the unrecognized source of being, awareness, and life. Another way to say this effortlessness is surrender.
If the real Self must have been present and been witness to our peaceful enjoyment of deep slumber--otherwise we would not have known that we had had such enjoyment--so must it likewise have been present and been witness to our rambling imaginations in dream-filled sleep and to our physical activities in waking. This leads to a tremendous but inescapable conclusion. We are as near to, or as much in, the real Self, the Overself, at every moment of every day as we ever shall be. All we need is awareness of it. 22:3.25.
COMMENTS:
Since the Self is of the nature of Awareness, and awareness is always present, there is no real need to search for it, nor is it a matter of creating something.
…This leads to a tremendous but inescapable conclusion. We are as near to, or as much in, the real Self, the Overself, at every moment of every day as we ever shall be. All we need is awareness of it. 22:3.25.
What we can do is to clear the clutter, we can let go of the fascination with the show, we can shift our placement of consciousness, create an atmosphere, a state of mind, that is inviting to the recognition of what is always and already here.
No effort is needed to get hold of the Overself, but every effort is needed to get rid of the many impediments to its recognition. 22.3.9
What does “awareness of it” mean? Here is a simple four step summary:
Reality is always/already present.
We are as near to, or as much in, the real Self, the Overself, at every moment of every day as we ever shall be. 22.3.25
All you need is awareness of it.
All we need is awareness of it. 22.3.25
But awareness is the Reality.
Awareness is the very nature of one's being: it is the Self. 28:2.130
And you are that awareness
It is forever with us simply because it is what we really are. 22.3.23
This notion that we must wait and wait while we slowly progress out of enslavement into liberation, out of ignorance into knowledge, out of the present limitations into a future union with the Divine, is only true if we let it be so. But we need not. We can shift our identification from the ego to the Overself in our habitual thinking, in our daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world. We have thought our way into this unsatisfactory state; we can unthink our way out of it. By incessantly remembering what we really are, here and now at this very moment, we set ourselves free. Why wait for what already is? 23.1.1
[Shift Identification: in thought and feeling and action.]
[we can unthink our way out]
[incessantly remembering what we really are]
COMMENT: you can find the meaning of this quote by using it.
Enlightenment is not something to be added. The Overself is already ourself. We can’t attain it, since it already and always is there. Here is the clue. Can we really take this in? Do we believe this? Is it just to close?
Consciousness appearing as the person seeks itself. This is its quest. But when it learns and comprehends that it is itself the object of that quest, the person stops not only seeking outside himself but even engaging in the quest itself. Henceforth he lets himself be moved by the Overself's flow. 23.1.3
COMMENTS:
[Consciousness appearing as a person: this is quite a way to describe us… meditate on it!]
[lets himself be moved: Allow Flow: NM: allow your real being to shape your life.]
a. Consciousness appearing as the person
You didn’t recognize yourself yet? You are not a limited finite individual. You are awareness. If you didn’t get it, keep this thought in mind during the day, keep coming back to it, and some day it will happen to you. TOLLE: “You are that awareness disguised as a person.”
b. when it learns and comprehends that it is itself the object of that quest, It stops seeking
Consciousness is looking at everything else, and seeking: but it is itself what it seeks. Many quotes point to the knower in our collection. Such as “it follows you wherever you go.” “the seeker is the sought.”
c. lets himself be moved by the Overself's flow
Simply let go, let yourself flow. This is not a forced movement, but a natural outcome of comprehension, which is an essential ingredient. The step here is not only to be aware of what we are, but to really take it in, comprehend and accept and live this awareness. Then our action is the flow of the divine, goodness is from ones essential being of goodness. Why listen to the ego if the Overself is so present? Distinguish what is real from the unreal, and then refuse to listen to the unreal any more. In I Am That , Nisargadatta says: “Let your real being shape your life. You will not regret it.”
The moment the questing attitude is taken, with the Overself as its sought-for goal, in that moment the ego and the Overself are put apart as two separate things and cannot be brought together again. But by letting such thoughts go, and all thoughts subside, mind may enter the Stillness and know itself again as Mind. Yet even this is useless if the understanding that the seeker is really the sought is lacking. 23:1.20
COMMENTS: There are three movements in this quote, and each provides a surprise, or a shift.
a. “questing attitude” At first, I too thought the quest was the most important thing in life. Yet here PB says the questing attitude itself puts me outside the Overself. Of course, attitude is the problem. Any search, anything we do to find the Overself adds to the separation, because all doing and seeking adds to the separateness. And if Overself is taken as something else, or somewhere else, that very thought puts us outside it. We can’t become it.
b. “letting such thoughts go” But if I must stop my searching, what can I do? Since this thought of getting something or somewhere is the problem, we need to let thought go. This is the second movement: when thought is quiet, it seems that mind enters stillness and knows itself as Mind. Seems to be the deepest non-quest realization.
c. But PB does another shift. “Even this is useless.” How can this be? Because mind entering stillness is a movement, and movement implies that there is something to become or attain. Mind entering stillness means mind can also leave stillness. But there can be no coming or going at all. So the third movement is no-movement. Somewhere PB says that the short path is the path of non-duality, non-origination. Understanding that the seeker is the sought takes us out of needing something, out of time, out of dualism altogether.
This quote is like a Japanese bridge over a stream that has three boards: each slightly overlaps the next, but you must step sideways at the end of each, let go of the previous direction to get to the next, and no one board goes all the way across. Perhaps we could be bold and summarize this way: the first phase is religious: a beginning, a path and a goal. The second is mystical: deep experience of the stillness. And the third is philosophical: you already are--you cannot become that.
What is the key to the Short Path? It is threefold. First, stop searching for the Overself since it follows you wherever you go. Second, believe in its Presence, with and within you. Third, keep on trying to understand its truth until you can abandon further thoughts about it. You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego's false idea and affirm the real one. (P) 23.1.92
Stop, Presence, Understand, Affirm, Recognize, Shift…
First: STOP: stop searching, stop seeking, stop trying… you cannot create what is
let go what needs letting go (past and future)
stop searching for the Overself [Awareness] since it follows you wherever you go.
Second: BELIEVE: have faith, trust, it is always, already, Here.
believe in its Presence, with and within you.
Third: REMEMBER to keep Mind in mind, remember what needs to be remembered (present awareness)
keep on trying to understand its truth until you can abandon further thoughts about it.
Fourth: AFFIRM that,
You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego's false idea and affirm the real one
Fifth: RECOGNIZE, become aware of awareness
the quester must recognize that he is the Overself 23.1.26
Sixth: SHIFT IDENTITY TO THAT, to consciousness rather than contents.
drastically strip off all the illusions of self-identification with ego and recognize that the true identity is already fulfilled 23.1.32
Be that rather than this. Take the whole of life as your own being 21.5.95
rejects the appearance of things, which identifies him only with his ego, and insists on the higher identification with the Overself also 23.6.115
shifting the emphasis from the superficial and changeful person to the immutable and ever-present witness NM
identification is shifted from the ego to the presence of World-Mind within his heart 8.1.127
constantly remembering your true identity in the Overself. 23.5.193
We can shift our identification … in our habitual thinking, in our daily reactions and attitudes, in our response to events and the world 23.1.1
Oh where oh where can awareness be? Oh where oh where can it be?
Oh where oh where can awareness be? I do think aware ness is me (can see) (can be)!
Awareness is vast as an ocean. Awareness is deep as the sea. Awareness as ocean is waving. Please bring back Awareness as me!
Bring back, bring back, bring back awareness as me, to me.
Bring back, bring back, bring back awareness and be.
[Older notes on this quote:
Allow the real to affirm itself. Let yourself be moved by the reality. Allow the beloved. Allow yourself to be loved by God. How is this possible? Everything you love about the world or a person is God’s Love. What you love is love, the glow and flow of the reality, suchness. All the forms too are the espression of this glow, but they are lovely and lovable only because they are glow, only because you too are love. You do not need to dissolve the world, only dissolve the identity and recognize what it is that is lovely. “If love did not live in matter, how could any place have any hold on any one.” Barks, Rumi.
We only need to recognize what the reality of the situation is. See the world-mind at the heart of everything. See that the recognition is itself the reality. God does not love you. God is love. God shines, is present, in, through, as you and world. All this world and person is the finger pointing. But don’t then go and look up at the moon, or again you miss what it is pointing to. The fact you are aware of the finger is what the finger is pointing too. And that being aware, like the glow of the moon, is the glow of the sun. Being aware is the glow of reality. Being awareness is the reality. Soul is the glow, the loveliness (Aphrodite) of reality. Soul is the flow, the entire stream of life (Juno) of reality. Soul is the know, the contemplation (Minerva) of reality. Soul is the now, the home and hearth (Vesta) of reality.
Second, believe in its Presence, with and within you.
[Presence: you really are! “present in mystic immanence.” Also, it is present as you. 22.3.25: if the real self must have been present in all the states, it is now here. All we need is to notice it. ]
Third, keep on trying to understand its truth until you can abandon further thoughts about it.
[Keep your mind on Mind: use the power of thinking to understand…]
You cannot acquire what is already here. So drop the ego's false idea [about the quest] and affirm the real one [presence here and now].
[Affirmation: let go of false and truth is revealed: rightly thinking we are Overself, we are in fact.]
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