Realizing the Power of Your Mind - A Correspondence
Hi Stephen,
I hope all is well. I have been going through some of this and investigating on direct experience.
It is plain as day that there is no “me” in the picture without thought. And that thought is a constant rumbling about the past and future, which are purely conceptual. When all activity is stopped, it can be seen that these thoughts, along with the heart beating and lungs working are happening, and the “I” is added on by thought. Really there are bodily functions and perceptions happening, and an awareness of them. This awareness is not tangible, and when you try to grasp for it, it is elusive. It can only be known through the objects. There is awareness of all that is happening.
Recently, I came across the quotes below from Alan Watts and was curious as to what your take is on them?
“You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean. You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes. You are the universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.” Alan Watts
Once one is seen as “no-thing” or as awareness, not the contents of awareness, do these quotes point to the last “step” in understanding that one is actually everything? If so, how is this known in any way other than conceptually? I see the reasoning in this, everything is one constant movement of nature, humans are certainly no different, even though we believe we are.
Thanks so much for your insight on this.
Bob
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Hi Bob, Here is my reply...
Bob: It is plain as day that there is no “me” in the picture without thought.
Stephen: Yes, your sense of being a separate, personal self, or “me,” is caused by thinking “I AM” Bob: I am a man. I am a father. I am a son. I am a human. I live in America, on planet earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy.
And what else do you identify with as “me”?
The process of the creation of the separate identity, “me,” is being done mostly below the level of consciousness, so we do not realize our separate, personal identity is a creation of our own believed thought. When our personal life is not going so well, often we feel as if we are a victim of a cold and heartless world; or a victim of the attributes of the poor, weak, pathetic person we believe we are.
The teaching of Self Knowledge helps us to bring the unconscious process of the creation of a separate self into consciousness so we can question it, and realize our own role in its creation.
Who am I, really?
You can become free of the self-imposed limitations of the separate, personal self by actively inquiring into the fundamental ideas about your identity, and considering the possibility that you are much greater than you have imagined yourself to be until now. A comprehensive and complete teaching of Self Knowledge can be our guide as it shows us how to proceed and why.
Bob: It is plain as day that there is no “me” in the picture without thought. And that thought is constant rumbling about the past and future, which are purely conceptual.
Stephen: Yes, by really digging in and observing your mind in action, you can notice that the personal self is a creation of your own thought; and that thought IS time, space and form. Without thought there is no time, no space, no form, and no me. This is not difficult, weird or esoteric at all. We all experience this every night.
When we are in deep sleep there is no thought, no time, no space, no form and no me. The experience of time, space, form and a separate me happen only when the mind is actively creating them. When we are in bed asleep creating a world, we call it a dream. When we are out of bed creating a world, we call it our life. It’s pretty funny when you realize that.
The whole world of conscious experience (both the sleeping dream and the waking dream) is made by the core belief in what I AM. And this is why there is so much focus on this idea "I AM" in the teachings of Self Knowledge. To change my experience, my identity must change because my experience is a projection from what I believe I AM.
Bob: When all activity is stopped, it can be seen that these thoughts, along with the heart beating and lungs working are happening, and the “I” is added on by thought.
Stephen: Well, the “I” is not added on to what is happening. That is backwards. When there is no “I thought” there is absolutely nothing happening at all ever. There is no heart beating, no lungs breathing, no body, and no world until “I AM.” This is crucial to realize because it is fundamental to understanding the creation of the separate me and its world of experience.
This is not a linguistic play of words. It is literal and fundamental. I AM the Creator of the universe. Without me, there is no universe - nothing at all. This may require some observation and investigation, and it may take some time to really know this experientially, so be patient with yourself until it becomes obvious. You may laugh hysterically - or cry in gratitude and relief.
Bob: Really there are bodily functions and perceptions happening, and an awareness of them. This awareness is not tangible, and when you try to grasp for it, it is elusive. It can only be known through the objects. There is awareness of all that is happening.
Stephen: Yes, awareness is not an object. The sense of sight or “seeing” is not an object that is seen, but is self-apparent because an object is being seen. So it is with awareness. Awareness is not an object to be aware of, but is self-apparent because of the objects of which it is aware.
We may say, so what? It is crucial to know that awareness is not an object because to realize the fundamental truth of our selves we need to know that what I AM is not an object. Objects are temporal. Awareness is eternal.
Awareness is even prior to I AM.
Awareness is aware that I AM. Now you can notice that you are aware of the personal self that you are, I AM ______. That which is aware that I AM must be prior to the I AM; like the “seeing” is prior to the object. If there is no “seeing” there is no object. If there is no awareness, there is no I AM - no me, no world, nothing at all. So it becomes obvious that awareness is fundamental to existence. The I AM is the doorway to Heaven or hell depending on what we identify as ourselves: I AM _______?
This is not as difficult as it may seem. The Self Knowledge Diagram shows all of this in context and can make it a lot easier to understand and apply to yourself.
Bob: Once one is seen as “no-thing” or as awareness, not the contents of awareness, do these quotes from Alan Watts point to the last “step” in understanding that one is actually everything?
“You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean. You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes. You are the universe expressing itself as a human for a little while.” - Alan Watts
If so, how is this known in any way other than conceptually? I see the reasoning in this, everything is one constant movement of nature, humans are certainly no different; even though we believe we are.
Stephen: As you inquire, investigate and observe your own mind in action you will come to realize that the whole universe is conceptual and is being made by your thinking. When there is no conceptualizing, no thought, there is no me, no world, no universe, no experience - nothing at all.
You may begin to notice how powerful your mind is. Your mind is the Creator of the universe. Go into this deeply and you will realize you are the Creator. And the process of creation we can call thought. When there is no thought there is no creation.
Now your identity may begin to shift from I AM a poor little separate ego-self born and living in a separate world, to I AM the witness of the ego-self and world, to I AM the Creator of the ego-self and world. As your identity changes, your experience of yourself and your world changes, because your experience is caused by your identity.
Bob: How is this known [that we are everything in the universe] in any way other than conceptually?
Stephen: The process of knowing, feeling and experiencing yourself as everything in the universe is exactly the same as the process of knowing, feeling and experiencing yourself as a little separate self. So if you can know, feel and experience yourself as a little separate self, guess what else you can do?
Everything, without exception, is known and experienced through the concept I AM _______.
When you, as mind, identify yourself as a separate ego-self, you know, feel and experience yourself as a separate ego-self. Do you realize how powerful your mind is? Your mind is the Creator of the universe. When you, as mind, question your identity and consider the possibility that you are much more than you have thought until now, your experience of yourself will be much more than it was.
A comprehensive and complete teaching of Self Knowledge can provide guidance and support, and help facilitate this shift in identity.
Self-Realization is not the negation of the little ego-self; but the expansion of the Identity of Self to include all. As your identity shifts from the little ego-self, to the witness of the ego-self and world, to the Creator of the ego-self and world, you begin to experience and know yourself as everything, the Big Self (which includes the little self).
Your little self is a unique, brilliant, shining facet of the great diamond that is the Big Self. And now you can appreciate and love your little self because you know you are so much more. This is the purpose of the teaching of Self-Knowledge, to know yourself as the Big Self and love all your little selves. Sounds weird, but I think it’s true.
Know Thyself. Love Thyself.
