The Perennial Tradition (1)
So...I was requested to lead conversations on this Tradition
a New Year undertaking..
Important it seems to write down my immediate formulations
of the meaning and ways of expressing this Tradition to those
who have no background, and use paths of duality to understand..
What seems important up front is to state that there is
nothing new in this teaching and we all, at some level,
already understand..glimpses have already been
experienced..
However, our Western culture has veiled the Tradition by
teaching and learning since our birth of duality as our reality..
Language has reinforced the belief that duality is the only truth,
rendering the belief deeply embedded in our bodies and minds,
and convincing us further that consciousness is limited to the body
and mind, thus forming the belief of a separate self, also known
as the ego..
So, what is this Tradition..?
Starting with the aforementioned separate self (aka: ego) we can
say that the Tradition recognizes the happiness, the suffering, and
the longing related to the seeming separate self, and these
experiences lead to questions of self-inquiry: Who am I? or
What am I? or Am I aware? The mind becomes exhausted in
trying to find answers, surrenders, resulting in an experience
beyond the mind, of Consciousness, or Awareness..these are
modern names for eternity, or the infinite space, which constitutes
the real identity of all seven billion of us. Of course, if desired,
one may use the name God for this experience.
So, how does this experience occur..?
It is amazing that our experience of Awareness is always
available for our noticing, and its simplicity is profound..
We are instructed to simply "go to our experience" to answer
the mind-boggling questions noted above. A key here is
to recognize that this experience always occurs in the Now..
In reality, we never experience anything other than the Now..!
so the experience is only to recognize how we already and actually
live our lives..! As a result, time will then be understood as
a thought, consisting of a past and a future, but the thought
only occurs in the ever-present Now..
So, other than time, what about other thoughts, perceptions,
sensations, and feelings..?
We perceive what appears to be a multi-faceted dualistic world and
sadly, many (most?) people never get away from this perception..
the perception continually reinforces the belief in the separate
self with the attendant suffering and longing. Meditation often
looks for ways to eliminate, or somehow move beyond the
suffering, not realizing that the Tradition offers a more immediate
and direct approach. Meditation (and searching, in general) often state
goals to achieve, but these can delay the discovery of our true identity
right Now, a discovery made by a spontaneous experience from asking:
Am I aware? and such questions, which boggle the mind! A key
for understanding is to reflect on the gerund form of thoughts,
perceptions, sensations, and feelings: thinking, perceiving, sensing,
and feeling and find that these are only special modulations or
colorations of Awareness, not separate experiences..and, crucially,
these colorations are actually made of Awareness..!
So, I will pause here awaiting other questions to arise...
Any advice would be Welcome..!
