I started out by writing a comment for Bill’s latest post:
What’s age got to do with it?
Somehow it got longer and the idea arose to make it a post…
Thank you Bill, I enjoy your writing style.
I love what Roger Castillo shares:
“The only truth in the manifestation is the impersonal sense I am; the rest are concepts.”
Yes, I say that Awareness is not a “state”.
Water (as we know it) has different states: solid, liquid, gas, plasma.
Awareness is yOur true nature; in experience it itself doesn’t change, it wasn’t born, it doesn’t die, it is always whole and complete, not lacking anything.
We grow/fall into the belief “I am body-mind”, and call it real.
Through suffering and our innate nature we discover:
“I am aware of body-mind-world”.
Who am I? What am I?
It is so simple that mind rejects it.
Bill, what is your experience right now, without engaging your thinking apparatus?
Can you find yourself objectively?
All objects (thoughts, feelings, sensations) arise to you, but you are the only one who is never objectified.
Mind cannot process stillness, and it holds onto “making-sense” for dear life!
Mind is afraid of the light of awareness;
in clear (unconditioned) experience it is seen that the person is a form of hypnotism, a mirage (beautiful, amazing, not to be dismissed).
Awakening to yOur true nature is effortless, it is your natural state.
It is the end of living the assumed “me”.
It is the end of suffering paper tigers.
We overlook the elephant in the room:
“I am” (prior to the arising of mind).
Nothing appears without “I am aware”.
Water takes on the states of liquid, solid, gas… but what are the states of Awareness, you?
Truth is that which never changes ❤️
Mr. Jesus says:
“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“I am” is formless Awareness, not a time-bound appearance.
The father is Consciousness, too pure to behold inequity.
“I and my Father are one”.
Bill is Awareness, effortlessly aware of body-mind-world!
Thinking is useful and powerful in this world, but it cannot help you in being yourself.
We need to lay down our tools when they are not needed or even a hindrance.
My words are not about “making sense” but for you to look again, freshly, just for a moment, without using your thinking apparatus. You cannot become what you can never not be: I am aware…
Thank you Bill for giving me a reason to write…
Peace,
Holger
PS: Understanding suffering is such a great gift:
PPS: We are gifted with many wonderful teachers, pointing to the some discovery, undoing different conditionings; Kudos to Life and Magdi, with his gentle and wise words that help me to trust and experience that LIfe is friendly and generous, beyond words.
Holger, I’ve read this twice: It’s beautifully “stated” in long form, and I agree with it all. And I think it supports my main point that age has nothing to do with it. In fact, I almost included one of Jesus’ parables about field hands who come late to the fields (Matthew 20:1-16–of course, I had to look that up).
It’s only “a state” if you’re still trying to get there, struggling to open that door. If you’re there, it’s the only “place” that exists. And I agree that “thinking” is just a tool that can be tossed away, can only get us to the threshold, is another “object” of duality.
I know my words cannot lead anyone to Awareness; unfortunately, they can only express where I am. Maybe they will be breadcrumbs that will help me get “from here to there.” Maybe not. I remain in the “don’t know mind.”
Thank you for reading my essay, and for your thoughtful comments.
Dear Bill, reading one’s own words can be very valuable in discovering our own lovelessness and seeming confusion.
You say “I know my words cannot lead anyone to Awareness; unfortunately, they can only express where I am”…
What is the difference between certainty and conviction?
Who are you to make such a harsh statement!
What do you really know, besides “I am aware”?
SORRY, my reply got again too long, so I transplanted it into its own post: Lovelessness
I think Holger here does a good job of presenting the real issues of life. Our mind is a rich source of intellectual entertainment, but it is prone to distraction due to our tendencies, habits, conditioning, and internal stress. While there is nothing wrong with conjecturing about various concepts, we can sometimes do this in the expectation of achieving greater or more long-lasting peace and happiness. Such an expectation is rarely achieved for long, as new ideas always arise and as our opinions change from time to time.
Holger quite rightly puts the emphasis back on awareness, or consciousness, which itself never grows or changes (perhaps that is why he calls it “stateless” all the time). It is our mind and attention that have states, and that have the ability to hide that which is more important in life. States cannot be solved by other states, meaning that thoughts will never be a source of infinite bliss or even just the elimination of problems. Awareness can be such. Again, just my opinion.