A Revolution of Being 2019 – Session 3 Notes March 20, 2019

A Revolution of Being 2019 ? Session 3 Notes March 20, 2019

These Session Notes are a summary of topics and points Adyashanti addressed during this session. They are not necessarily exact quotes or a transcription. They may also include writings Adya created for this session. We hope these notes are helpful to you as a reference tool. If you have not already, we encourage you to watch or listen to the actual broadcast for the direct transmission of his teaching.

The Presumption of Relatedness

? The theme of last week's written exercise has been the presumption of relatedness or the transition of perspective from the "me." This perspective is the view that we're used to. It is the egocentric view where we're looking from separateness at the world and other. The presumption of relatedness is assuming that "I am something that is separate from life, separate from others."

? We learn this sense of separation and we assimilate it through the development of selfconsciousness, which is often the solidifying of selfhood.

? One of the great powers of a contemplative perspective is the ability to look at ourselves carefully and without judgment. There is often a negative orientation regarding the ego rather than seeing it as just a particular perspective, just a way of experiencing existence.

? There are negative consequences resulting from the experience of separation, but one of the positive aspects includes the ability to differentiate. Many spiritual practices depend on differentiation and discrimination which is a part of self-consciousness. But with that ability comes the assumption of the relationship of self to other, which leads to a feeling of separation, isolation, and even alienation.

? Intimacy, which is the feeling of openheartedness and closeness, shrinks the gap between oneself and others, be they friends, lovers, children, or the world.

? Instead of looking for God or awareness, you look from it.

? Sometimes people practice mindfulness where they're trying to be aware as if it is a tool. The idea of "me" is so deeply presumed that it feels like reality.

? One of the benefits of meditation and inquiry is to get behind the idea of yourself. Who is aware? The more you look precisely, all you find are constituent parts such as opinions, thoughts, feelings, memories, assumptions, etc. But who is the thinker or feeler? Where is

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the I?

? A certain kind of meditation aims at getting to the ground of the experience of being. You start to see that the self isn't there. Self or ego is made up of non-ego elements. The self in the egoic sense isn't an entity, comprised of many aspects of the psyche that is interacting to create a feeling that you are separate.

? There isn't some little entity that is the possessor of awareness. The ground of our experience is awareness itself. It can be shocking to see this.

? The "me" appears within awareness. By seeing this, your sense of identity may spontaneously revert back to something more fundamental. The assumption that "I'm using awareness" flips, and all of a sudden you experience yourself to be the awareness itself. This flip leads to a radically different sense of being. You see that the whole psychological entity is just constituent aspects, and the sense of being returns to its whole ground.

Fear of the Divine Ground

? When people start to get into the vicinity of the divine ground of being, the undifferentiated ground of the psyche, certain types of fear will often be evoked:

o Fear of annihilation--the ego's fear of encountering something that is completely unknown and empty. There's nothing to grasp at.

o Fear of insanity--the ego's fear that it might go off the deep end. The divine ground isn't insane. It isn't out to annihilate ego. That's just ego's reaction to it.

o Fear of losing a sense of responsibility--the ego's fear of what might happen if it lets go. "If I let go, will I still be a responsible human being? Will I still be a good parent?" "Who will I be if I completely let go? Will I just turn into some sort of maniac?"

? There are some people who don't encounter fear; they have an innate sense of love and trust in the universe. If you have that response, consider yourself lucky.

? When you fall into the ground of being, there is a deeper sense of empathy because there is no separate sense of other.

? When you experience any fear that you want to go beyond, you have to open to the fear. Notice the difference between your direct experience of fear and your thoughts about what you're experiencing. You can scare yourself by your thinking.

? Accept any fear as it arises. You have all experienced moving forward in your life (such as going on a job interview) even when you have been afraid. This is often necessary to accomplish anything new. It's an encounter with the numinous, and the relative mind can't comprehend it.

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The Importance of Inner Stability

? It should be noted that there is a small but very real danger of entering the divine ground. It is useful to have a relatively stable psyche that is not overly divided. And it's a good idea to gather the divisions into a spiritual whole through things like correct meditation.

? The guided meditation that explains aspects of true nature, (including presence, peace, and clarity), encourages breathing into the hara or dantien to cultivate a sense of strength. Keeping the back straight is a posture of stability.

? One of the most common and important ways to cultivate stability in your meditation practice is to notice your experience without being taken away. Be a witness of what's occurring--not as a separate witness, but to be within and all around. Practice not being swept away. You can encounter deeper experiences without getting lost in them.

Let What Comes Come, Let What Goes Go

? It is possible to encounter deeper experiences without getting lost. There can be images, ideas, experiences of heavenly or hellish realms, etc. It is important not to grasp at them or push them away. You might even experience great knowledge, where you think you understand the workings of the universe. Don't hold onto the pleasant experiences and also let go of the unpleasant ones. If you feel them without grasping or pushing away, they can complete themselves and fall away.

? The divine ground is beyond good and bad, archetypal images, and instincts, etc. The ego likes to hold onto the positive and dismiss the negative. As Ramana Maharshi said, "Let what comes come, let what goes go, find out what remains." This is the way to access reality and create stability. The deeper you go, the more important this becomes.

? If you get involved with grasping or resisting, you will stall out. The things we want to change the most will actually change the least because of resistance.

? Heavenly experiences can have a healing effect on the body and mind, but you must go into the divine ground completely naked. As Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven."

? We don't get to take anything into the divine ground--no thought, idea, experience, etc. You must let everything go to enter the domain. Awakening to/as the divine ground requires one to wake up from all of the trance states of the total psyche.

The Ethic of Enlightenment

? The divine ground is beyond all dualities. It embraces a way of seeing life that is very different from the egocentric point of view. It is also why all long-lasting contemplative traditions emphasize moral and ethical behavior.

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? When we leap beyond opposites, it can be easy for the mind to misinterpret because the opposites have no real place in the ground of being. But there is then a great emphasis on seeing the value of life orientation in the relative world. This is often called the ethic of enlightenment.

? When you see and experience the interconnectedness of all things, it generates compassion. You don't intentionally harm that which would violate your insight. The ethics that arise from genuine insight are love, compassion, and wisdom.

? In the Zen tradition where you train with koans, the last koans involve the basic precepts. You encountered these precepts at the beginning of your training and then at the end, when you inquire into the ways of being in the world from the enlightened perspective.

? It is relatively easy to make mistakes, even if you are sincere. It is useful to learn if others have similar conclusions or interpretations. If not, you could be mistaken. We all interpret our own experiences, and our interpretations are often automatic, products of prior conditioning.

? Having stability and a moral and ethical background will be useful before dipping into the void. It is useful to retain some amount of humility and not be too quick with the certainty of your realizations. The two extremes of the spectrum are unconditioned perfection and the fallibility of the human being.

? Intention is of the utmost importance. It orients you in many ways. Your intention is personal and transpersonal. What is the best for you is also the best for all beings. People who understand this are wiser and are a more benevolent presence in the world than those who are self-oriented.

? When you're in the divine ground you go beyond dualistic positions, but the relative world is comprised of dualities, and both dimensions need to be respected.

Diversity without Distinction

? Nisargadatta was eloquent in his description of the divine ground: o "When the `I am myself' goes, the `I am all' comes." (This is unity.) o "When the `I am all' goes, `I am' comes." (This is the step beyond unity when one encounters just the "I am.") o "When the `I Am' goes, reality alone is and in it, every `I am' is preserved and glorified." (This is the place where "I am all" and "I am" fall away and the necessity of having an identity itself falls into emptiness. Diversity without distinction is the ultimate the mind can touch.)

? Very few teachings articulate this, that self in its most essential aspect falls away.

? Even in the unity experience, the "I am" can still be there. It is a selfless perspective-- you go beyond the fixed identity. Those dimensions of consciousness are still available, but consciousness realizes something more fundamental: we are something that is beyond

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identity altogether.

The Enlightened View

? Meister Eckhart, the great German mystic, speaks of realization of the divine ground as "the breaking though."

? Often in the inward journey, we go down through the various domains such as the personal psyche and then the collective archetypes. The archetypes are very powerful domains, and the spiritual warning is not to get lost there. Heavens and hells trip up most spiritual seekers. The true meaning of attachment is not grasping or pushing away these experiences. If you don't want to suffer, stop these attachments so that everything keeps flowing.

? The gaze of eternity is looking from the eyes of emptiness or the timeless dimension of being. It is completely silent, open, and outside of time. Our minds create the psychological experience of the passage of time. When you lose psychological time, you have the foretaste of eternity.

? Eternity is perspective-less perspective. It is the way that emptiness sees and is what Meister Eckhart calls "Divine Knowledge" where you don't experience God, but you're looking from God, true nature, or Buddha nature.

A Meditation on the Backward Step

? The orientation toward the ground of your own psyche or soul is to take the backward step. We're socialized to take forward steps toward progress, but contemplative practice is stepping back to the ground and origin of being. Consciousness is receding back onto itself.

? Let your consciousness settle. Feel and notice quietness inside. Let yourself recede back into your being to that which is more essential. The more we come into what's more essential, the quieter it becomes.

? Let go of grasping and pushing away. As the mind enters quiet and stillness, it may have the tendency to grasp and see what it is. Keep following the backward step to its origin. You start to forget who you were yesterday or today, and you come back to something more essential. It gets more mysterious.

? The more you return to essential quiet, you no longer know who you are and no longer grasp to know who you are. There is no need to force. Then you may dimly intuit that there's this domain of consciousness that's not about words, images, or understanding-- just like that.

? If your body gets a little afraid, it's just a layer. Let yourself move through it (like it's a membrane) and then you're fine. There is nothing to be afraid of. Just come back into the ground of what you've always and already been all along.

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