TWO WORLDS 31…

FUNDAMENTALLY we are unaware of our true nature. When we sleep, we believe our dream-self and dream-world are real. When we wake up, our dream-world gives way to the waking state and we recognize that the dream-self and dream-world are actually empty of substance. It’s quite easy for us to realize that they are only fabrications and projections of the mind.

In contrast, as we go about our normal daily life, we perceive the world to be made up of solid and separate objects. We believe that our thoughts and the objects around us are real. But, could it be that even while awake, our thoughts and objects are also fabrications of the mind, as empty of substance as our dream-self and dream-world?

Usually we have no reason to question the validity of these beliefs, but there is every good reason why we should. All dream and waking phenomena—thoughts, emotions, sensations, images, and the world around us—are constantly changing. Everything about our body, mind, and the world is constantly morphing from one thing into another, a mass of swirling, changing sensations, emotions, thoughts, and images.

We want life to be consistent and predictable, so we suffer, because life around us is constantly changing. Our habitual self is forever searching within this sea of instability for something stable and constant to hold on to, while the inner fabric of each one of us is deep calmness and peace that is stable and steady, and is recognized to be ever present even in the midst of life’s tumultuousness.

This is what is referred to as our essential true nature, our innermost self – A deep peace that we know without a shadow of a doubt, is always present. When we inquire into the who, what, and where of the awareness that is witnessing life’s changing phenomena, we discover that this “I” that we take ourselves to be is not solid either and paradoxically, unlike everything else, isn’t changing.

We realize that our True Self, or true “I”ness, is an infinite, spacious presence of being in which everything, both waking and dream states is born, unfolds, and dissolves. We discover the truth of our True Self, as Pure Being…

Dan’s Quote: “Birth and death…
_____________we all move between these two unknowns.”- Bryant H. McGill

Inspiration for this article came from ‘Awakening from the Dream’ by Richard Miller – and life itself.

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