Where is the world anyway? At first the answer to this question may seem simple: the world is where you see it, right. But if you look deeply into this question you will be in for one of the most amazing journeys.
That’s because we often overlook the place were we actually experience the world. But you should know that life gets really interesting when you examine your experience anew. That’s because your experience of the world is more direct and immediate than it seems.
In Fact it is even closer than your thinking about it. Here is where things really come alive. It’s where you experience the world afresh like a new born baby. It is here that things lose their sense of separation and become one.
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Step by step, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive points you to the source of timeless Wisdom, the place of enlightenment; this is Bliss that does not depend on what you do or what you think; it is your natural freedom.
For more information go to:
http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html
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How can you access the place of direct experience?
After this introduction you may wonder how you can access the place that I described. The answer is to question the experience of the world that you take to be normal. For instance now I am looking out the window at a tree full of yellowing buds. Where do I actually experience this tree? If the tree was out there while I am here I wouldn’t be able to experience it, right? So I must really experience the tree in here. It is only an illusion that the tree is over there.
Moreover, if I was over here, like being in a room and the world was over there then first I would see my eye sockets, like the frame of a window and then I would see the budding tree, right? But I don’t see the tree like that. I just see the tree directly, don’t I?
Our experience is more direct than our thinking recognizes
So is the tree over here or is it over there? Notice that the answers that I find are hard to comprehend with the linear mind. But fortunately there is a more direct way of experiencing the world. At this point you are stepping out of your normal thinking process and experience the world directly. From here you can see the meaning of: “Those who know cannot say.” You also get to see that your thinking only describes a limited view of the reality that you naturally comprehend. Here things are too close in to stand apart as a separate observer. Yet everything becomes perfectly clear.
Here’s another experiment that you can try that will help to clarify this: When I see the budding tree, there is an image that my eye picks up like a camera. The image goes through the optic nerve and into my brain. From my brain the image somehow gets transferred into my mind and I see my mind. So am I seeing the tree or am I seeing my own mind?
This is your home
If you can catch the meaning of these experiments you will be standing outside the usual processes of your mind; but you will feel right at home. That’s because you will have found the home that you were looking for in the millions of things that you did and that you thought. The amazing thing is that you were standing here the whole time and just overlooked it.
Those of you who studied Buddhism might have heard such statements as there is nothing outside the One Mind or there is only the Buddha mind. In Sutras like the Shurangama Sutra the Buddha provided these experiments so that you could have the direct understanding of his words. So now you know that you can experience these statements directly. The world you thought was out there is really in here, and in here is bigger than you could have ever imagined. In fact it is larger than the whole universe.
Our experience is not limited to thoughts
The truth of the matter is that our experience was never limited to thoughts. Thoughts are like a filter that seems to limit our experience. But the whole time we are standing on this side of the mind where we see things as they are. From here we get to see that there are not really two sides, over here and over there: just the one ever-present mind.
So now when some asks, “Where is the world anyway?” you can reply, “I know but I cannot say.” Standing as the whole you get to see the whole because that’s what you are. There is no need to stand separate.
If you need help with these experiments, ask here and we can explore and find answers together. If the comment section of this blog doesn't work, please send your questions and comments to michael@ananya.com. To find out where this all leads go to, www.light-up-your-life.com. And finally, if you enjoy these blogs please tell your friends.
Best Wishes,
Michael Gluckman
