The Reality Beyond Human Experience

It’s unbelievable just how similar all these three accounts are; in fact, I’d go as far as to say that there are no contradictions between them whatsoever.

These three sources point to the truth beyond what we perceive to be reality. ACIMawakened me to the existence of such a common ground from which everything springs into being. The two Indian sages mentioned at the beginning described the very same truth in their own unique ways. It’s like having three people from totally different backgrounds describe the very same city.

All these three sources claim that our perceived reality exists only in our imagination. We live in our little private worlds and even when we interact with others, we project on them the parts we would like them to play, and thus we can’t see who they really are.

This private world of ours can only disappear and reveal what’s true and common for all when we stop thinking that we are bodies and that we are helpless victims of this cruel world. Instead, we should understand that we projected (created) everything – even the body and the mind. We don’t live in the world, therefore, but the world lives in us.

The true reality is here and now – the complicated mind can’t see it

Sri Maharshi explained that the true reality is here and now; it never left us, and it will never end. People are simply unaware of it. He used Sri Shankaracharya’s (an Indian sage’s) comparison of liberation to finding a long-lost precious necklace that was around your neck from the very beginning; you just forgot about its presence and thus thought it to be lost. You searched for it everywhere but not on yourself.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj used another great comparison to liberation. He said that some see the apple on a tree hidden by leaves, whilst others don’t, no matter how much you point to it. Instead of looking at the tree for the hidden apple, most look at the hand that points to it. The apple remains unaffected whether it’s seen or not.

ACIM likewise explains that our true state is always with us, yet we are so engrossed in the illusions maintained due to our identification with mental processes that we fail to notice it.

ACIM’s approach to liberation is suitable for the Western mind, because it explains the common ground, the truth, in so many ways that the mind can no longer doubt its existence. It simplifies the over-complicated mind by continuously directing it to the very same foundation from many angles. Eventually the mind cannot find any contradictions and complications and thus gives up. And only the mind that’s open and simplified can see the obvious – the true reality.

These thorough ACIM explanations serve as the dispellers of the false; they prevent an individual from getting trapped into new complicated illusions. The mind starts healing, because all the contradicting desires and thoughts are rooted out.

The over-complicated and confused mind, weakened by all sorts of inner contradictions and unable to resist constant attacks of thoughts, cannot quickly grasp obvious things; a road to a city might be straightforward, yet some may overlook the simplicity of reaching it imagining the road to be full of obstacles. But once the mind is simplified after pondering on and applying ACIM teachings, it no longer over-complicates things and thus can see the truth.

You are not the body

All these three sources agree that the greatest error is the identification with the body. From this, all other errors spring into being. It’s caused by the creative consciousness becoming too interested in its own creation and getting so engrossed with it that it starts thinking it is it.

The creation of the body is so beautiful to the creative consciousness that it becomes identified with it. It’s indeed the most perfect creation of the Creator. Then the mind is born to preserve the body as long as possible and all other cravings come too, as well as miseries of all sorts as a consequence. When this identification is no more, no problems can arise.

Identification with one’s own creation is perfectly illustrated by the story found in the Vedas about the god Brahma. He created a beautiful woman and fell in love with his creation. Their union produced the first human being, and eventually the whole humanity sprang into being.

Misunderstanding Minds

After reading the conversations between these two mentioned saints and truth seekers, I came to the conclusion that most people cannot even entertain the idea of being creators of their private worlds. Reading these conversations also made me understand that people can be utterly blind to their own misdeeds.

They dare to accuse these selfless sages of being passive watchers of the horrors of wars and famines. They fail to see that it’s their angry accusations that give birth to wars. Only such unloving attitudes create all the evils we see today; yet such individuals think they’re doing a good deed by accusing saints this way.

They fail to see that the sages transform the world by their being; that the still mind itself is the greatest blessing there is. They mistake body activity for the real activity. A liberated one doesn’t see the world’s busyness as useful in any way. A liberated one does more good to the world by his state of being than all the busyness of the crowds added together. This the accusers never see; they’re too busy finding people to blame for the wars and other evils; never do they look at the main cause of such savage attitudes – themselves.

You are not the doer

Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj stress the importance of understanding that one is not the doer. Things happen by themselves. They are already arranged. What is supposed to happen will happen. ACIM, too, says that:

Free will does not mean that you establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what to take when.

The only reason this may sound unpleasant is if one is identified with the body. When this is not the case, this concept is totally freeing! Because then you know that you don’t need to struggle and strive – whatever action will need to be done will be done effortlessly.

In fact, you cannot not do what’s in your destiny to do. So no need to fret about things and to fuss – all will be done what needs to be done. Also, not fussing about what comes your way but accepting everything with an equanimous mind without inventing any new things to do is the quickest way to neutralize all the karmas. Just take life as it comes.

The mind thinks by itself, the body acts how it should act to play its role in the Grand Play of this life; when one finally realizes that control is not needed at all, all the miseries end.

How to get liberated

All the three mentioned sources explain that everyone is already liberated; the reason you don’t know it is because you are identified with your body and the mind that sprang forth to keep the body alive. So instead of seeing your true nature, you are a slave to the mental urges and thoughts that arise mechanically. This incessant thinking obscures your real nature because you’re identified with this mechanism.

You were never born, and you will never die. You always were, and you will always be. You are not human, and nothing of this world can describe you. You are not even a witness; you are That which is aware of the witness and of this play we call life.

To know your true nature you need to stop identifying with everything of this world;that which can be seen is not real. Any object is not real. The body is also an object. The world is an object; the thought is an object since you are aware of it as other than You. Only You should be paid attention to. That’s the way to understand who this You really is.

You are not the body, not your gender, not your job title, not your hobbies, not your possessions, not your habits… By the “not this, not this” practice suggested by Sri Shankaracharya you will peel off false layers of yourself until there’s nothing left to peel off anymore. And then you’ll find who you truly are.

The burden of one’s mind

Mind is a great obstacle to liberation. It came into being as a result of the identification with the body. It functions to assure bodily comfort and its survival; it continuously scans the environment for possible threats to the body and monitors its well-being reporting any fluctuations of the body’s state to you by the help of thoughts, such as “It’s too cold here” or “I have a headache”.

The mind borrows its life from You, because it has no independent existence. Everything that has no independent existence clings to life dearly, as they know that their days are counted. That’s why meditation is very hard for most; thoughts fight with great might for their survival and usually people give up the practice being unable to go beyond thoughts. Ego, too, strives greatly to extend its borrowed life.

The identification with the mind causes bondage and great sorrow. With such an identification the wheel of running after pleasure and escaping from pain is set in motion, quite unrecognized since this game takes on a myriad of forms. Such forms can be running the wheel of rat race, the unending acquisition of possessions, being engrossed in romantic pursuits or being addicted to sweets. One sinks deeper and deeper into the self-created illusion, being a total slave to these pleasures and pains.

There is a way out. Stop identifying with the processes of the mind. They’re not you, and they don’t come consciously from you. They are because the world is – everything is inter-related. It’s a play, and the body is the actor on the stage.

I finally understood that it’s pointless to analyze the various workings of this Maya (illusion); all three sources agree with this too. Such a preoccupation is fruitless and benefits the ego only as the ego likes everything that’s pointless, especially its own analysis (which psychology is all about). The sanest thing to do is to leave the mind and its workings alone, and to understand that you are not that. Analyzing this world and the mind is like analyzing the reasons why the characters in your last night’s dream acted in a certain way – it truly has no purpose.

You are not the body. You are not the mind. Leave them alone and they will assure their own survival and functioning – this all the three sources guarantee. They’ll function better without your interference, obediently playing the drama of life. If you leave them do their own thing, all the struggle for survival and personal miseries must end. What causes misery is when you use the body and mind to search for happiness that’s not in the world; when these two objects are no longer burdened this way, they assume their natural functioning.

The Great Power that makes the oak seed grow into an oak and not a maple, and the Power that assures that a wild cat finds its food every day, works equally perfectly in ensuring the survival and thriving of a human body. It’s our constant interference with the process that keeps us blind to this magnificent force and prevents It from working perfectly in our lives.

When we stop identifying with our creations, we are free, truly free. Then we have choices. We can simply be, we can sit back and watch the Great Drama of Life, or we can create something new. It’s only when we think that we are bodies that we become enslaved by the destiny written in the stars; how can such a destiny affect one who sees his own body as a mere character in the play, and watches it with great wonder? It becomes entertaining – it’s a totally different thing to still being in the play and thinking that pleasures and sorrows happen to you.

Just be

To awaken to the True Self, stop identifying with events, thoughts, feelings, duties. Let them be. They’ll all happen by themselves and they don’t need your involvement. Simple being will serve as a bridge to your True Self. ACIM assures that if you allow yourself to simply be, you’ll save a thousand years of striving towards God.

Let the mind quieten. Watch it, don’t identify with anything that happens there. This lack of identification will eventually allow you to go beyond the mind to the common ground of truth. Also, since the life of thoughts is borrowed from You, non-identification with them will prevent the generation of new karmas as a result of acting on thoughts, and thus your body will only be fueled by the karmas of the past until they’re no more.

Get into the habit of always going back to the source of your being no matter what happens. Avoid the common mental habit of seeking for assurance or help outside of you when something distresses you, as that’s a sure way to disempowerment. With time this reaching back to your source will become habitual, and finally your True Self will be seen.

As these two sages say, once you see your True Self, there’s no return. This state is permanent and irreversible. You become the point of awareness, and though you witness the Great Drama of Life and you are aware of the body taking part in it, you can no longer become engrossed with such objects.

Resource: /simonarich.com