The Eternal State

What exactly IS "The Eternal State" or "The Original State"? Asking your assumed-self, what is my original face? What was my state before my parents were born?, what is seen and by whom? Is there a state which never changes, a state which is absolutely Eternal? If there is the belief in such a state, then where is it? What is it made of?

Understand this: The concept "eternal;" is definitely NOT Eternal! NO concept is Eternal, and the idea or belief in some "eternal STATE" is still a relative concept while what the Eternal IS, is NON-conceptual. That means NO word can grasp or describe what You are. This Eternal; or Original Nature we point to is not a coming-and-going phenomenon; rather it is That Substrate or Essence of emptiness-energy IN which and AS which all that seems to be so real and distinct appears. The appearance is no more the actuality of What Is than the word fire will light your cigar!

Looking for Mister or Ms. ME, what is seen? Can you find your self? CAN YOU MISS IT? If you are looking for IT are you assuming you are NOT ALREADY IT? Who is looking? What is looking for what? Is there an aware presence which silently knows the seeking for self? What is that made of?

See right now that there is only that aware presence and IN that some ideas, thoughts, feelings, and a story of a me-person arises and subsides. That aware presence is ever-now and always alive and alight, is it not? Look directly at this; see that there is no separation of, or for, for that aware, awake presence. That is what IS. All else is imagination.

All problems are for a person which is merely a passing idea with no substance ... so all problems are pure imagination because they are for a person which is found on looking to simply not exist. That's all there is to see and get: The person is an idea with no actual permanent reality; what is real never changes. You are That which does not come and go. Settle in with that and allow it to show it's loving depth to that little believed self; that settling in will dismantle the false and leave only the real. And this takes no time or practice; just direct and immediate seeing and knowing. Just here. Just Now.

That. Is. It.

Just This and Nothing Else

The purest iteration of Buddhism, Tibetan "Dzogchen", points out in many elegant ways that what the Eternal State IS, is "simple ordinary awareness". There is never NOT awareness: While consciousness comes (in waking and dreaming) and goes (sleeping) the Eternal Beingness, also called open "cognizing emptiness", or simply, awareness, just that, ALWAYS IS. THAT is Eternal (and Eternal means beyond the concept of spacetime, and even the concept "eternal".) This awareness does not "know itself" any more than space can "know space". Seeing that all expressions, perceptions, sensations, thoughts, feelings etc. come and go is to see what you are NOT. Only that awareness that never changes does not come and go. By refusing all concepts of "me" or "I" as ultimately false, the true is naturally revealed. Oneness is uncovered in removing the assumed believed identity as any thing that is not forever here forever now. Simple.

The word "Dzogchen" means "The Great Perfection". What exactly IS this "Great Perfection?" There is just NO word that can grasp or capture this; words ONLY POINT. That said, here is the pointer from Dzogchen: "“The great perfection is ever fresh, self shining non-conceptual, presence awareness, just this and nothing else"

Now are you looking at the pointer or looking where the pointer points? See the No Thing that always is, right now. THAT is always present and aware of consciousness and unconsciousness; all "content" arises in this empty context. THAT has no properties. No yesterday tomorrow today. No time, no identity, no thing, no nothing, no everything. Nada zilch zip. Unknowable by mind or brain, which are appearing IN That, as aspects OF That... and That IS what You have always been and will remain after the world body appearance disappears. Forever Being, Forever Love! Look at this space. See if in fact you exist apart from this space. What and where is That which is the knowing of whatever thoughts or manifestations appear? Are you really separated from that manifestation? Or is that a "case of mistaken identity"? Correct the mistake: Who are you? NO answer. Notice that before the sense of being (I AM) arises YOU already ARE, empty and open and loving the manifestations of your very Self.

Being. Consciousness. Happiness. All there is is This: Just This and Nothing Else!

Who You Are is THIS

A haiku

What Am I right now?

I AM no thing everywhere.

Who know this? Not I.

All paths lead 'where'. The Truth is Here...

Q: I have lost count on how many people I have asked for help, understood their response and again this issue arises.

C: Yes, that happened here until the clear message was truly imbibed. That is why we say “understanding is the booby prize” of Nonduality. Here I am speaking about the ordinary use of “understanding”, that is, mental comprehension by an intellect, which intellect is a property of the false me or self center. The TRUE “Understanding” (capital U) is that clear recognition that YES, there IS awareness, fully present at all times under all conditions and regardless of any “content thereof”, and I Am, That.

This is as John Greven puts it, “Understanding that belongs to no one”. This arises naturally as the false person is seen to be merely a phantom with no ACTUAL existence. You are and that is clear, obvious, and self-evident. That incontrovertible Is-ness IS what is the Eternal Reality that exists at all times and in all locations (which are only conceptual structures that that appear on and within and all around it.) That Self is what you are.

Inquire: “What AM I”? and see what there is to know and realize: YOU are not a thing, not an object with any properties; YOU are nothing that the mind can know, grasp or “understand” (comprehend with the intellect). In short you ARE the Understanding Itself; the Nondual essence Itself, and there are NO problems in and for That.

There IS awareness there right now, YES? Is there anything wrong with that awareness itself?

Q: The issue comes up when I have to make a presentation at work or when there are problems relating with people at work or at home. There seem to be a deep insecurity in the ability to communicate verbally which obscures all the peace and sense of completeness that simply is when the mind relaxes and awareness is noticed.

C: 1. This insecurity is the inevitable product of not knowing what you actually are. You have taken your self to be a person, a separate thought-bound “entity” with some “separate reality” apart from the totality of all that is (and is not!) This totally illusory self-image or self-concept of being a “me” standing apart from awareness is the cause and source pf all suffering. That self IS insecure and feels vulnerable because when there is the assumption “I am this person inside this body” or “I am this body” or "I am these thoughts that arise here 'in me' and “about me'," then there arises the assumption “there are others” and those “others” can hurt me (or hurt “my feelings) or judge “me: or invalidate “me”. But what IS that assumed “me”? Where exactly is that “me” located?

Look at this deeply. The belief in a self apart from he whole is a flat LIE; you believe the lie that habitual thought tells you at your peril! Give NO credibility whatsoever to the mind’s attempts to tell you who and what you are. “Who is that which tells me “I am me, and insecure, vulnerable, flawed and inept?” The story of a “poor me” is, remember well, just a FLAT LIE!

So the insecurity IS the sense of being “me” and that is the lie that you must unravel through intelligent investigation. Asking simply, “Who feels insecure in this moment?” yields a mental auto-response: “I Am”. Then dig under that assumed “I am-ness” and ask the final question: “WHO am I?”

2. It is not true at all that peace, completeness and awareness is ever actually obscured. That is a story told by an uninvestigated mind and is just more lies! Is awareness ever actually missing? Not the word actually! Awareness MUST be present for there to be the assumption of obscuration. Also there is no “noticing” awareness in the Final Seeing. That is a provisional, interim "pointer" to take the mind off of thought; but like all pointers it must be relinquished in the end: "WHO 'notices awareness’?” Awareness is That which registers and knows the presence or absence of peace or completeness as concepts. Awareness Itself is NOT any concept. This point must be deeply understood (by no one). As the sages of Dzogchen put it, this Great Perfection is Self shining, ever fresh, NON-conceptual Presence-Awareness, just That and nothing else. They add “nothing else” just in case the mind tries to grasp and conceive: It is That which cannot be conceived, yet IS.

Q: Could you give some advice or do you need more info?

C: I would suggest that you carefully ponder the above. You might also consider booking a consultation; I suggest we work one to one on these issues, and how the true seeing naturally affects your communication very powerfully. I would also recommend we include some of my basic business communication coaching, which can free up the mind from these kinds of irrational fears of “others” and “their” judgments and evaluations of “the person” you take yourself to be.

For now, though, I recommend you stay with a few basic points:

What you are is not a thing that the mind, body or "sense of being" (the false person) can grasp. You are non-conceptual awareness. The words are only pointing, and so please remember the qualifier, that YOU are NON-conceptual awareness. It is awareness unaware of itself that YOU are. And if there appears to be a person with “issues or problems”, investigate the minds assertions to find out of they are true, or not! WHO tells the tale of a flawed insecure “little me”? Who am I? What am I? Where am I? What IS this “I-me-my self” that I assume to be real and separated from Wholeness? Believing the lies of self identity the mind serves up brings suffering. True peace consists in uncovering the lies once and for good. YOU ARE that Peace; "you" do not "have" that Peace....Dig deep! Finding the truth means dismantling the lies. Just that simple!

Thanks for being in communication. I love you absolutely.

Q: Thanks!

C: My pleasure, dear One!

What you are is not “somewhere else”. It is nowhere (now here). “Seeker of truth, follow no path. All paths lead ‘where’. The truth is Here.” ~ ee cummings

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Mental understanding is the 'booby prize'

Q: I have lost count on how many people I have asked for help, understood their response and again this issue arises.

C: Yes, that happened here until the clear message was truly imbibed. That is why we say “understanding is the booby prize” of Nonduality. Here I am speaking about the ordinary use of “understanding”, that is, mental comprehension by an intellect, which intellect is a property of the false me or self center. The TRUE “Understanding” (capital U) is that clear recognition that YES, there IS awareness, fully present at all times under all conditions and regardless of any “content thereof”, and I Am, That.

This is as John Greven puts it, “Understanding that belongs to no one”. This arises naturally as the false person is seen to be merely a phantom with no ACTUAL existence. You are and that is clear, obvious, and self-evident. That incontrovertible Is-ness IS what is the Eternal Reality that exists at all times and in all locations (which are only conceptual structures that that appear on and within and all around it.) That Self is what you are.

Inquire: “What AM I”? and see what there is to know and realize: YOU are not a thing, not an object with any properties; YOU are nothing that the mind can know, grasp or “understand” (comprehend with the intellect). In short you ARE the Understanding Itself; the Nondual essence Itself, and there are NO problems in and for That.

There IS awareness there right now, YES? Is there anything wrong with that awareness itself?

Q: The issue comes up when I have to make a presentation at work or when there are problems relating with people at work or at home. There seem to be a deep insecurity in the ability to communicate verbally which obscures all the peace and sense of completeness that simply is when the mind relaxes and awareness is noticed.

C: 1. This insecurity is the inevitable product of not knowing what you actually are. You have taken your self to be a person, a separate thought-bound “entity” with some “separate reality” apart from the totality of all that is (and is not!) This totally illusory self-image or self-concept of being a “me” standing apart from awareness is the cause and source pf all suffering. That self IS insecure and feels vulnerable because when there is the assumption “I am this person inside this body” or “I am this body” or "I am these thoughts that arise here 'in me' and “about me'," then there arises the assumption “there are others” and those “others” can hurt me (or hurt “my feelings) or judge “me: or invalidate “me”. But what IS that assumed “me”? Where exactly is that “me” located?

Look at this deeply. The belief in a self apart from he whole is a flat LIE; you believe the lie that habitual thought tells you at your peril! Give NO credibility whatsoever to the mind’s attempts to tell you who and what you are. “Who is that which tells me “I am me, and insecure, vulnerable, flawed and inept?” The story of a “poor me” is, remember well, just a FLAT LIE!

So the insecurity IS the sense of being “me” and that is the lie that you must unravel through intelligent investigation. Asking simply, “Who feels insecure in this moment?” yields a mental auto-response: “I Am”. Then dig under that assumed “I am-ness” and ask the final question: “WHO am I?”

2. It is not true at all that peace, completeness and awareness is ever actually obscured. That is a story told by an uninvestigated mind and is just more lies! Is awareness ever actually missing? Not the word actually! Awareness MUST be present for there to be the assumption of obscuration. Also there is no “noticing” awareness in the Final Seeing. That is a provisional, interim "pointer" to take the mind off of thought; but like all pointers it must be relinquished in the end: "WHO 'notices awareness’?” Awareness is That which registers and knows the presence or absence of peace or completeness as concepts. Awareness Itself is NOT any concept. This point must be deeply understood (by no one). As the sages of Dzogchen put it, this Great Perfection is Self shining, ever fresh, NON-conceptual Presence-Awareness, just That and nothing else. They add “nothing else” just in case the mind tries to grasp and conceive: It is That which cannot be conceived, yet IS.

Q: Could you give some advice or do you need more info?

I would suggest that you carefully ponder the above. You might also consider booking a consultation; I suggest we work one to one on these issues, and how the true seeing naturally affects your communication very powerfully. I would also recommend we include some of my basic business communication coaching, which can free up the mind from these kinds of irrational fears of “others” and “their” judgments and evaluations of “the person” you take yourself to be.

For now, though, I recommend you stay with a few basic points:

What you are is not a thing that the mind, body or "sense of being" (the false person) can grasp. You are non-conceptual awareness. The words are only pointing, and so please remember the qualifier, that YOU are NON-conceptual awareness. It is awareness unaware of itself that YOU are. And if there appears to be a person with “issues or problems”, investigate the minds assertions to find out of they are true, or not! WHO tells the tale of a flawed insecure “little me”? Who am I? What am I? Where am I? What IS this “I-me-my self” that I assume to be real and separated from Wholeness? Believing the lies of self identity the mind serves up brings suffering. True peace consists in uncovering the lies once and for good. YOU ARE that Peace; "you" do not "have" that Peace....Dig deep! Finding the truth means dismantling the lies. Just that simple!

Thanks for being in communication. I love you absolutely.

What contraction, where? For whom?

"Zube" writes:  "Further to your observation about the body being depressed and hence the need for medical treatment, could we also say that more generally a key barrier to awakening is contracted energy in the body mind so that there is some kind of "work" to be done, through practices such as yoga, meditation, in order to embody presence?"

C: That is another story the false center of "me" tells. It's the so-called "British school of thought" on Nonduality. But look: Where is any "contraction" unless you think and accept the belief that there is a separate "I" that is "contracted?" or has "contraction' with it? It's just more mental noise!

There is no need for ANY  practice to BE. You ARE. The pointer that if there is depression there may be a physical component; I am not saying there IS a "need"; rather, to have the machinery checked by a competent mechanic (a doctor). And to investigate, to look, to ask "What AM I"? is not a practice; it is a looking in the immediacy of NOW, HERE and finding that no one is present yet there IS Presence, aware, open and free.

Totally Natural Self Realization

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Go To John Wheeler Podcasts
Keep It Simple!
S.M. Writes,Very good new video Charlie. Thanks! It really is that simple. Quite stunned really. The 'problem' looking for 'something more', the 'solution' turning back to all there is. That's so simple ... you crushed a mountain with a pebble there Charlie.
C: Great news! 

JD Hazlewood comments:

Yes, You Are, undeniable, but the "you" taken on as an assumed identity is a total sham. Just know the I Am before any concepts are added and You Are That.Great pointers Charlie!

Break the "I am me" habit

Although in Truth there is no seeker, no path, no attainment, no teacher, no realization: If there is seeking happening then this may resonate.

Perhaps the habit is to identify your self as the thought "I" ... as in “I Am”. Notice right now if the Presence behind the I thought has been overlooked.

Break into the habit, being aware of That Presence as your True Identity. This takes no time nor practice. It's just a natural seeing, right here, right now. And that's the end of seeking; the Natural, Eternal State has been found to be never missing. There is no mystery to this. It is, simply, what you already always ARE. Right Here Right Now You Are This. In This, There IS No End and No Beginning.

"You Are Unborn", page 24

Q: Hi Charlie, OK, I can see that the only constant in life is the background awareness, and that it makes no sense to believe that I am this ever-changing, temporary body-mind. This is easy to see. However, seeing this apparently leads to the end of suffering, which as yet is not my experience. The body-mind still has depression sometimes. It gets frazzled by the number of things it needs to get done and it sometimes becomes overwhelmed by it all. So, the question is....how much seeing of the fact that I can only be the background awareness is required before suffering drops away? Is it something that just needs to be seen once? Or is there some kind of gradual process? Many thanks.

C: When there is depression, what notices it? There is always that presence of awareness; it's that which registers the depression, and also registers the conversation about the depression which in essence is "I don't want this". Come back to the immediacy of right now, this moment, and ask the question, "WHO is depressed"? The mind will reply automatically, "I am". Then undercut that be asking, "I"? Who am I" Where IS this I?

It takes no time nor process for your being to BE; that always just IS. The Is-ness of Awareness is eternal, meaning that it's always fully present; just overlooked. Look into that and listen to all the Podcasts. Thanks for writing.

PS: Make sure there is not an "imbalance component" of the brain's chemistry affecting your well being; in some cases some mild antidepressants can be a great help ... if you have not been checked by a physician please consider having that done to rule out such imbalance. Nonduality is not a substitute for professional medical care.

What is real?

What is called "enlightenment" is very simply the deepest possible realization that there is no separation anywhere. What is real? This timeless understanding, which does not "belong" to anyone; there is no "one" separated from "other than one". In this direct knowing, which is the absolute reality at the core of all that is and is not in this wondrous dream, it is obvious that nothing exists that is not this Being-knowing. The end of the illusion of separateness consists in true freedom, a freedom so complete that nothing is denied and nothing is apart from you. In short, the knowing is, "I am everywhere". The notion of birth or death becomes an amusing story, like a children's fable, as the doubts and confusion have been dispelled, like clouds being burned away by the rising sun. You are the sun and the clouds, the sky and the mountains, the river and the banks. This is Nonduality; the stainless realization that indeed, "I am That".

a haiku

One Unbounded Source 

Wakes Up Now in Perfect Peace 

Amazing Stillness!

This Is It

Q: Just a question-insight... To see or know WHAT WE ARE, is STILL making ourselves into SOMETHING!  Even if it is nothing-awareness or non-conceptual awareness!!  Awareness is STILL once removed from this or aliveness.  Awareness is still NOT just this!!!  THIS is the actual, direct-nakedness of life.  Its aliveness happening in free fall.  To talk about or focus AT ALL on what we supposedly ARE is STILL NOT IT.  I guess what I'm getting to is that WE CANNOT KNOW WHAT WE ARE!  We simply are.  And to make it into something, even calling it non-conceptual awareness is missing the whole thing. To see through the illusion is all that is needed.  There is only this.  Aliveness.  Happeneing.  In free fall.  This is it.  Period. Thank you in advance!  Any comments?  Peace, “J”

C: All concepts are only pointing to the indescribable eternal IS. So you are quite right in pointing out that no words can capture the essence. You say, ""To see through the illusion is all that is needed". Of course! Once the dream is seen to BE a dream, the seeking for "more" is done as it becomes obvious that a dream character has no volition to "improve the dream!"

The final question becomes, WHO sees the dream? This can erase any further delusion.

All that said, your final note,  "There is only this.  Aliveness.  Happening.  In free fall.  This is it.  Period" is yet another concept! And if that is your actual living experience, all good! But as a mere belief ... which all too many who hear that message, popular in the UK,  take on as something the "person" now claims to "know"... then there is still  a delusion operating; the delusion of "me". There is no dogma, no belief, no concept at all that can capture this that simply IS.. We point, using such CONCEPTS as "Non-Conceptual Awareness". Note the NON-Conceptual in that! So, my friend: If what you are saying is what is real cannot be said, or known, agreed!

In any case, it sounds like it's all over for "J". Very cool.

Q: Yes! Thanks.

C: :-)

Nonduality & Reiki

There is a natural energy that is the essence of all that appears. This intelligent energy is called by many names: God, The One, Source, The Absolute, The IS, to name a few. Another name fir this totality-essence is "Reiki". 

"Rei" means Universal, "Ki" means intelligence-energy. 

Recently Charlie began offering Reiki healings and attunements once again, for seekers who resonate with this natural and divine energy. Hayes is a Certified Usui Reiki Master/Teacher  and has been active off and on in the discipline since August 2002. Recently he has benefited greatly  from Reiki in dealing with an esophageal illness which may or may not be Cancer; the energy has been extremely helpful for the organism.

If there is an interest please visit http://reiki-now.blogspot.com for information and some shares about the power of this energy.

you are the knowing

What you are is the silent knowing of everything that appears ... even when what appears is nothing! We call that awareness. This awareness is absolute freedom and absolute love; it's nature is existence-consciousness-peace. The great "Mahavakya" (eternal "word", or prime pointer) declares, "I am That, Thou art That, all of this is nothing but That." Just be That! Simple, since you already ARE That.

Q: You say, 'Just BE'. Okay how do I do that?

C: Don't you see the flaw in the question? The assumption that there is a 'me', a 'doer'? Who needs to do anything to BE? YouARE, already always BE-ING.

Stay with the ever-present sense of "I am'. and drop all questions except "who am I?'.

Consider the miraculous mystery we call “the body”

From but a single infinitesimally tiny sperm cell, one of thousands, maybe millions, emitted from a moment of orgasmic ecstasy, a heart that beats by itself for some decades (!) was formed; lungs that breathe, eyes through which The Self sees; ears through which The Self hears; a brain through which The Self appears to “think”, and finally, an assumption of a self apart from The Self, all happening with no apparent cause or source whatsoever…. Look at this miraculous appearance and its fathomless beauty. It’s stunning complexity. Its amazing capacity for both ignorance and wisdom! 

From where did this bodybrainmind apparatus arise? From whom did it appear? A single tiny sperm cell? Or something not-a-thing-at-all which manifests as all that appears, the entire reality-illusion of space and content? What is THAT? Where is any separate person in that single sperm cell? Where is a person in the egg that met the sperm cell? 

What is That Energy that divided and redivided and “became the you” that most human organisms take their self to be? The fathomless magnificent mystery of hat is called Life and Living … how could that Self Expression be measured or limited by a thought? Ponder this mystery! It’s the infinite ever present Self expressing as all of this amazing show. That is unthinkable and unknowable. Yet It assuredly IS. YOU are That. 

Everywhere and everything is That Self which YOU are. Do not deny that Self. Love that Self that You are with no judgment and no limit. This is the timeless message of all traditions and sages. Imbibe it fully.

Don't miss the utter simplicity of the Self that You are

Something sees these letters and sees the forms called words, and that same ever-present something sees the space between the letters and the words, the screen of the computer that allows these to appear, and the space in which computer, body, knower, and seer, are all arising out of nowhere (now here). That Space of Being Awareness effortlessly holds and allows it all to be as it is. No resistance. Eternally Presencing Reality.

Did you overlook all these spaces and the Space-Awareness that allows it all to appear? Right here and now are you overlooking the Being-Presence that allows the seeing of the body? The observing of the I thought that appears? What is seeing? Being sees and sees the appearance of a self, reading. That Being is what You are. It takes NO time or effort to BE. This, Being-Eternally-existing, is what you are.

Don't believe the voice in your head that tells you that you are a thing that can suffer and die. Being as you are means abandoning all identities once and forever. You are That - Being, and nothing else.

Loving You,

I AM

(From "You Are Unborn", page 16)

Download and Print versions are HERE

This week's potent quote

"The mind is an appearance coming and going in what you are.  'Mind' is a collective term referring to thoughts. Clearly, you are aware of thoughts. That is beyond doubt. An effective inquiry is exploring the nature of what is aware of thoughts. That takes you out of concepts immediately. What is the nature of the space in which ideas are coming and going? What is aware of the concepts? Everything we normally take as 'us' (mind, personality, body, etc.) is ultimately created in concepts. In fact, these creations have nothing whatsoever to do with our innate identity. Pointers and teachings are also concepts. They are used to point beyond themselves. In all the non-dual traditions reality is pointed out as non-conceptual. The questioning and relinquishing of all conceptual positions leaves the ever-present non-conceptual reality clear and unveiled. One thorn (the spiritual pointer) is used to remove another thorn (whatever concept we may have been equating with reality). Then you remain as what you are and have always been, which is the ever-present natural state.  Many words or labels have been used to describe that. But since the word is never the thing, it really doesn't matter what word is used!" ~ John Wheeler

Back To Basics!

Q: You kindly answered my questions when I still thought there was an "I" who had to improve and get somewhere else. I’m deeply grateful for that.

C: My pleasure.

Q: Now, 2 or 3 years later, I’m already free of that illusory and huge burden, and I’m writing to you to see whether you share my recent thoughts. They relate to the "waking state spirituality" vs. deep sleep, and they’re so simple that I’m afraid that I could have missed the point somewhere.  I think that having gotten to a point of complete mental exhaustion regarding "spirituality" has triggered all this.

C: Now this is bringing a subtle self-identity, “I”, back in. This indicates that perhaps the “I” sense has still got some energy of belief in it.

Q: Right now, objects (thoughts, sensations and, even more important, the sense of a personal "I" with all its notions and convictions, even the sense of being subtle witness), they all had started looking like floating ghosts to me(to nobody!), like empty shells that owe me their existence, shells that could not affect my nature.  So far so good...

C: Okay…

Q: But one of these days I woke up and stayed in bed for a few minutes, and examined this gap between being deeply slept and being awake and suddenly I realized something as obvious (but usually overlooked in the spiritual teachings) as the fact that something that is present during the waking state, but not during deep sleep or dream state, cannot be completely real, cannot be my nature. I mean, no way something "real" could have wakened up with me if it had not been already present during deep sleep. A more humble version of Ramana’s "discover what you were before your parents were born", I suppose. 

C: Fair enough! As we say here, you are the knowing of ALL: “states”, dream, sleep, waking. That is the NON conceptual awareness which is always on. No concept of being, consciousness, whatever label affixed, can actually describe or corral that! That which you are is always awake even in sleep; that awake awareness reports on the state of deep sleep: “The sleep was good, or not so good”.

Q: So I compared the three states and realized that the only thing that resists the fire of the "deep sleep state" is simply Being, untouched by experience. There’s "Being" in the three states, but since there are not objects or subjects whatsoever during deep sleep, we can discard them all as absolutely real (yes, these subjects or objects are the shape Awareness takes during the waking state or dream state, but they can only be real as "Being", that is, they are real inasmuch as they are made of Awareness, but not as objects or subjects on their own. A tree is real as a form Awareness has taken in the waking state, but not as a "tree", which is a relative form that only appears when the mind is functioning) And, considering that Being did not need a mind to know Itself during deep sleep , we could say that It is aware of Itself without an object. That is, it’s not tied to space and time. It has no beginning, no end and no form.

C: This is all just a lot of ultimately useless concepts! Drop it all!

Q: But that also implies a quite shocking truth: it means that all (I mean ALL) of the spiritual notions, practices, explanations, enlightenments,”unenlightenments", (such as Suzanne Segal's), traditions, paths, Gods, mysticism, visions, yogas, religions, etc., not only imply the existence of a separate "I" that in fact does not exist, but all of them belong to the waking state only!! They cannot be absolutely real. They are only real as relative expressions of the Unmanifest Absolute. It is the mind, not present when there’s no space
and time, the one that superimposes spiritual ideas onto the Unmanifest, where by definition there’s no mind at all, that is, no spiritual object or subject.

C: Again, all irrelevant! Just stories arising and setting IN the aware presence that you are.

Q: I felt relieved, but also cheated in some way, because, why don’t those traditions start with the obvious truth that our true nature must be present in the three states and also transcend them? That immediately would free the pupils of the expectation of trying to get somewhere, of the need of practice, of the idea of an "I" who has to evolve, of drama, etc. Where are the out of body experiences, the NDE´s, the bardo lights, the Kundalini energies, the gurus, etc., during deep sleep? Who meditates? Where to go?

C: Again, this is the subtle ego-I again. WHO felt relieved? WHO cars about whatever appears in the waking dream of life living itself? Who wants “answers? WHO?

C: As always, there are two aspects or angles of pointing to the correct seeing: You are already That; awareness is always on 24/7, at all times in all spaces, and that, you are. Full Stop. If there is any trace of self-concept or identity left, that subtle I-sense needs to be completely dismantled, so to speak; so long as any vestige of identity appears then the job is not complete!

Q: Realizing that just effortless "Being" is, realizing that it is enough with Being, that there’s not anything to do or think, and also remarking that any experience, no matter how profound, is a play of Awareness (even the most beautiful angelic visions during near death experiences or deep meditation states), that would lead by itself to the suicide of the world of name and form. That’d lead them to the Unmanifest.

C: “Lead” WHO? There are no “persons” who are NOT That! You are projecting the I sense onto “others”. This indicates you still have a little looking and deconstructing of the self center to do. It’s fairly normal; there comes a time when you recognize that even and idea that “you are done” is another movement onto subtle ignorance!

Q: Does this make any sense?

C: No.

Q” Can it be so easy or am I going too far, too soon? I mean, I’m not denying the manifest, since it’s the shape Awareness takes from time to time. I’m just implying that, not being present during the three states, I should focus in that which pervades them all. In fact, even this situation (Rogelio writing an email to Michael James right now) feels somehow like a dream. It is losing its solidity rapidly. 

C: I. I. I. WHO!?? Who asks this? Who are you? Asking that mind who am I? will deconstruct these last vestiges of false self-identity. Do it.

Q: Thanks in advance, Charlie. As always, any opinion or advice would be really appreciated.

C: No problems. All is imagination, and No Thing. That, No Thing, YOU ARE.

Q:  (Follow-up)  Sharp as a knife, and clear as always. That’s what I needed. I loved that "there comes a time when you recognize that even and idea that “you are done” is another movement onto subtle ignorance!"

Thank you so much, Charlie. You’ve always been a great help.

C: De Nada!


(For the John Wheeler Podcasts go HERE)

Pointers

You know there is "something" seeing; you know there is "something" knowing. YOU as awareness are primary; unless YOU are, presently and awaredly, nothing else can BE. So come back to the simple seeing and knowing that YOU ARE. Being, Existing as Existence Itself, is your natural state of eternal isness. The idea of a separate entity standing somehow outside of existence itself, coupled with the idea of time, are the two false assumptions that consist in the illusion appearing real. YOU are Reality, and that Reality is never separate; that separateness was only a really bad idea!

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Simply seeing, "yes, I am", and abandoning every other concept or question except "who am I"? destroys all the ignorance (the ignoring I AM and That is fully present at all "apparent times") AND to quit all questions except Who am I?" pulls the foundation out from under the while conceptual house of pain and suffering. 

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ALL problems are about “relationship”. The core of any and all problems is the assumption of an “I: apart from “others”; this is where the shit hits the fan! The falsely assumed entity that considers and believes itself to be standing apart from that awareness you know is always fully present is the one and only source and cause of all suffering. As many have said, the moment there is “I” there is “other”; and the moment there is “other” there is either attachment and longing for “other” (whether a lover or a new house or any thing that the mind covets), or aversion and resistance to, (“I don’t want this or that in “my” life). So the concepts of “mine”, “other”, “me”, and “time” all form the mental construct we call ego or identity. The trick is in challenging these assumptions directly: This is why we suggest asking the self you assume you are, “Who am I”? and taking NO answer on board: NONE. There is NO concept that can describe or capture what you truly are. You are the Nondual Awareness and ONLY That is eternally REAL. You believe you are somehow separated but that separation never actually happened. It was and is ONLY a false assumption!