Collision with the Infinite

The mind has to know that it can't grasp what I'm about to describe. The Vastness is perceiving itself out of itself at every moment, within every particle of itself everywhere simultaneously."

~ Susanne Segal
Collision with the Infinite

Enlightenment is

the sudden recognition that non-duality is, has always been, and will always be the reality of our experience. Duality is an illusion.
~ Francis Lucille

To crush the ego

is what one would think and feel is necessary to identify more with the 'Greater Source' or 'Universe'. How would a student of the dream go about accomplishing this?

Answer: A mirage can only seem problematic when its true nature is not recognized. When the mirage is known for what it is, it does not suddenly disappear, nor does it have to. To know that one cannot fetch water from it is enough.

Likewise, the ego illusion is not in its appearance, but in the way it is perceived. When there is the conviction that what we are is limited to the ego, we are under a sort of hypnotic spell.

Once it is clear that our thirst for insight and liberation cannot be quenched at the mirage of the ego, the investment lessens. This understanding does not depend on erasing the ego, but simply sees through it to its illusory nature. What is more, attempts to do away with the ego, are now recognized as the ego illusion itself.

Ultimately, the personal 'I' and the 'Impersonal Self' are not two. It is the One Universal Self appearing as this 'I'. Self-re-cognition shows that there is no one to accomplish anything, yet everything unfolds presently as this. There is no independent separate character to identify with the 'Greater Source.' There is only the 'Greater Source' regardless of how it appears. Many waves may rise and fall, but they are the expression of a single ocean. There may be a variety of ornaments, all crafted from the single substance of pure gold; there may be many appearances, but there is only One Consciousness.

In clarity the student of the dream is recognized as part of the dream, and all studying of the dream is known as nothing but the dream. Obviously the dream character cannot dream her self beyond the dream in which she appears and disappears. THAT -in and to which the whole dream appears- does neither come nor go. IT does not need to wake up as IT is fully awake to the dream.

IT appears as you in the dream, and IT is the common ground of all phenomena. This 'singularity' is the True Self, closer than close and presently aware of the reading of these words. THIS Presence/Awareness is the father and mother of all dreams, even the dream of awakening. You, as an assumed, dreamed up individual, cannot become or reach 'the Greater Source', YOU -as Totality- are THAT.

~ Leo Hurting
Awakening to the Dream Newsletter 101, March 4th 2007

The Bear

There is a scene in the movie, The Bear, where a little bear cub is about to be attacked by a mountain lion. The little cub stands on its hind legs in an attempt to look intimidating. He is very impressed with himself when the mountain lion turns and runs away. What the little cub does not see is his 10-foot tall, 1200-pound father standing upright behind him.
 
As in this movie scene, the same event can have many different stories attached to it, depending on which perspective it is viewed from. Most human beings move through the world viewing themselves and everyone around them as a “me” with conscious will. It is a world of “bear cubs” all deluding themselves about the actuality of their experiencing. The real formative force (the 1200-pound bear) standing behind each of us is the sum of our inherited genetic and conditioned tendencies, none of which are within our conscious control.
 
The natural human tendency is to ignore all but the most recent and obvious links in the chain of cause and effect as we encounter each life situation. The illusion of conscious will is so compelling that it often prevents us from turning to see the absurdity of our limited view. With a slightly wider perspective, it becomes quite clear that each event is merely the most recent link in the chain of cause and effect. It is the culmination of your inherited and conditioned neurology meeting a life situation.
 
With understanding, the larger chain of cause and effect becomes dominant, and the illusionary “me” effortlessly fades. All that is required is a few steps backward and the spiritual seeker can then begin to understand that external circumstances don’t change with an awakening to enlightenment, only the way that things are seen changes. The mountain lion still runs away, but what changes is the understanding as to why it ran away.
 
The awakened might say to the spiritual seeker, “I recognize the weight of the entire chain of cause and effect that bears on each moment; you recognize only one link.” The awakened recognizes the totality of life’s karma, (“karma” literally translates as “cause and effect”). They have seen through the karma of “tit for tat, this for that,” which could only manifest through the lens of separateness known as the illusion of conscious will.
 
The more wisdom there is about the immense weight of the chain of cause and effect, the less of an illusionary “me” there is left to block the experiencing of your already enlightened being.
 
Have you seen through the world of the imaginary “me’s” flexing their illusionary conscious wills? Is there a sense of the entire impersonal karmic chain of cause and effect, which far outweighs any illusionary “me”? Is there a wisdom of life’s inertia that flavors the experiencing of this-here-now in a way that allows all the illusionary “me’s” to fade into the distance?
 
Once you turn and see the 1200-pound bear standing in the background of each moment, the illusionary “me,” though cute when standing on its hind legs, is seen for what it is: an illusionary player in the chain of cause and effect. And then you are free as the experiencing of this-here-now.

~ Gary Crowley
http://www.GaryCrowley.com
Nondual Highlights 2743