The End of Belief: Follow your Bliss?

There are many paths to Truth, but, there is only one Truth. 

Not even this is true.

What veils this Reality from plain view is belief itself.

By Definition, a belief can not be a fact. A fact does not change. A belief does: One day I am a conservative; on another day, I am a liberal.

Beliefs are subject to change at any given time. And, in this changing environment, there is only one thing that never changes.

 As Francis Lucille once responded to a questioner,” I have no beliefs!”

 This is the great irony: we are prisoners trapped in a cage of our own making. It is resistance to carefully inspecting assumptions that allows Maya to operate.

 It is a natural tendency to want to reject the alien, new and unfamiliar. This process is born of a deep desire for the comfort of the familiar.

It seems natural to resist change and the unfamiliar—because it does not resonate with us. But, it is exactly this turning of attention to that which has been overlooked that permits breakthroughs to occur.

 This kneejerk reaction cancels understanding before it can occur by a clever defense mechanism: rejecting information appearing as “already known” or understood. This blocking technique dismisses the unfamiliar and immediately neutralizes the investigation.  By claiming to already know that which appears, we guarantee we never actually see or hear it. It is a subtle form of defending the status quo and insures the perpetuation of ignorance.

 “Openness” is required in Self Inquiry; ironically, this “openness” is born of vigilance. Reality is self evident but perpetually overlooked.

Open Willing Looking without limits is essential.

The counsel to "follow your bliss" or to pursue the path which "resonates" with you can be either great wisdom or folly, depending on the sincerity of desire for Truth.

 Beliefs appear to be facts; this is because they hide in the subconscious.  As Lester Levenson once said, " Things are subconscious only because we don't look at them."  They hide in plain sight.

 To be seen, focus is required in a direction we seldom look.  This focus can only be driven by deep desire, even discipline. It is the breaking of an old habit pattern. The new direction does not only come naturally.

 Here is an example:

 Consider compulsive eating. Every time food is served, conversation and other distractions can overshadow the experience of eating presently; food can be consumed compulsively, unconsciously without even noticing the texture, taste and bodily reaction to each bite. This unconscious eating, on some level, can be a form of medicating ourselves with food. Hidden beneath our conscious view, we do not notice our conditioning. We are puppets.

 It is only the effort of slowing down and witnessing the compulsive eating that is required. Seeing is the powerful weapon; for when seen, the body/mind immediately adjusts back to a healthy relation with that which it eats. Naturally.

 Here is another much more impactful example:

 Consider the resistance to examine the "hardness" or "materiality" of the world. To a Westerner, the “transparency of things” is an unfamiliar view and may be uncomfortable. If belief in the substantiality of the world is dismantled, our life long entanglement with the body, mind and world is dis-engaged. Our infatuation is uncovered as pure folly.

 A lot of time in Self Inquiry is wasted attempting to mitigate and “translate” what we experience rather than discovering it's reality. The desire for confirmation and validation is one example of this.

 Here is a secret distraction:

 Presence", Reality or Enlightenment can be discovered or verified through some sort of subtle experience.  

 The Indians call this Ananda Maya Kosha. It is the false pursuit of sensations and perceptions, a "feel good" experience as the proof that "enlightenment has been found."  

 Of course, it is conceptually seen that awareness is free of sensation and perception; but, if this is true, how is it experienced at all?

 The answer is that Presence is never experienced, nor remembered. This conclusion is a key which opens the door.

 Realizing that pure Consciousness can never be objectively experienced and allowing that nothing might ever "happen” frees us from the distraction of mentation altogether. This is what is meant by  “benevolent indifference” (click here to read Eternity Now for a full explanation of benevolent indifference) to all mentation.  Sensation, perception and thought are simply the incorrect geography altogether.

 It is entirely unnecessary to block thoughts, avoid sensations or to exclude any appearance. Francis Lucille refers to this as "welcoming". (Click here to read Francis Lucille’s, “Welcoming the Totality”)

 This realization allows for attention to be turned directly towards it’s ultimate destination: awareness itself. This is the extraction of pure awareness from it's entanglement with mentation.

 The great irony is that, after the fact, there is a relative experience referred to as Bliss, Happiness, Peace or Freedom.  Sadly, sometimes this is the only part of the message heard.

 As Jean Klein warned, “It’s the Instant BEFORE the upsurge” (click here to read Upsurge) that is the key, not the relative arising occurring after it.

(Do not miss “The Blending of Advaita and Tantra by Jean Klein and Francis Lucille by clicking here)

 This “momentless moment”. this colorless, substance-less substance, is the destination sought. Truly, this is seeking seeking itself.

 Of course, seeing this, there is only wonder and humility. Speechless, the scope of this website’s folly is revealed. There simply is nothing left to say other than, “Thank You” for listening.