identification and the sense of stillness

Identification and the sense of Stillness

October 20, 2023

We learn to judge every happening and every appearance from a describable identity, from identification with the body, the gender, the function, a collection of memories and points of view. Always there is the underlying idea of a separate self that has experiences, a doer that succeeds or fails, or the self that is harmed. That which perceives - Awareness - is unconsciously attributed to a separate self.

Living life from identification throws projections across the world. Without realising it, the mind looks in its own fears, assumptions and expectations.

The false self and distorted intentions

Identification forces findings, about the self that didn't perform well, or was wronged, to be stored. Soon this produces fuel for retribution or revenge. The small mind embitters and grows an attitude of 'you just wait, and I'll show you what I'm worth'.

Unnoticed, the mind hypnotizes itself, and with great effort tries to gain in prestige, meaning or value. A strained state of mind evolves, to acquire - through accomplishments - good feelings. The urge to prove oneself expresses in may ways… as competition, fight, 'well' doing, being nice, suppression, etc.

Disappointment, irritability, impatience and dissatisfaction grow, as do resistance, fatigue and frustration. Eventually effort turns out to be the searching for satisfaction, from the conviction that satisfaction has to come from the world, from achieving something, through the effort of a separate self.

Recognition of the Direct Being

At a certain time there will be recognition of the true identity, or direct Being. In this recognition the mind loses its fascination with the past, and with that, retaliation and the urge to prove oneself drop away… there is nothing left to be proven or affirmed.

A shift takes place, from 'having to prove that I am someone' to 'living from the fulfilment of Direct being, from Peace'. It is clear then, that losing the fascination with the past isn't a letting go, but a dropping away: the interested party, the separate 'me', turns out to be non-existent.

After realizing your true Nature, still old stuff comes up, however, this is not proof any more that things are going wrong. Everything that appears is allowed in unconditional Openness.

The small mind protests, from fear of losing its identity. Long it held onto alleged injustice and the urge to retaliate coming from that, and derived an identity with intentions from.

This small minded objecting often is hard to recognize, because subtly attention is lured into promises and assumptions. This, however, also can't hide in unconditional Stillness… it surrenders, in patiently staying open to whatever habits or patterns present themselves.

The Sense of Stillness

The search for fulfilment turns out to be the search for 'who am I', or the search for the true Self. Mind discovers - directed inwardly - the boundless Openness, and recognizes this as the timeless Stillness that Consciousness is… or non-dual Awareness.

This boundless Openness, this ungraspable Stillness, can't be pointed to as an object, yet is recognizable as direct experience. You can sit still and realize that Perceiving happens effortlessly off itself, and inquire where perceiving stops and the observable begins.

Awakening is the realization that there's no border between Perceiving and the world. Awakening is the recognition of Perceiving as the veritable I, a borderless, indivisible Directness. In this Realization the idea of distance and proportion falls away, and there's just this inexplicable Stillness.

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