Since we are used to looking for objects to tell us about life and its meaning, looking to the subject, your real identity, may seem very subtle. But once you discover your natural state of being, things get very simple; then it becomes obvious that what you really want is what you already are.
For this reason I encourage you to continue asking questions until you get to your very core. Bernard’s questions are great examples of this questioning. He is persistent and continues to examine his experience until he finds the ultimate subject. Here we get a peek into this dialog so that we can deepen our own spiritual practice too. So here is another question from Bernard:
Okay Michael let me run through this as I understand from your writing
I have come to understand that the map maker is the mind but can never enter into the territory so every time I think I have a decision to make it is really the mind being prompted by The Great Mystery and coming up with thoughts, ideas of decision making. These will always be limited because mind is always limited. So while it seems like a big deal to make this decision’ life itself unfolds just as it will unfold and mind will either say whoopee I was right or become dejected because it perceives that it was ‘wrong’.
So mind is always attaching interpretations, linear thinking, words etc to the prompting from Spirit but in the end any decision making is all mind stuff and life just rolls out anyway in front of us.
Limited mind is just map making but the map is not the territory and while useful it can never go anywhere with the maps. Somewhere along the way I need to let go of the maps and recognize that to enter into the territory the mind needs to step aside or more correctly I must stop paying so much attention to the games of the mind and its limited way of seeing the world.
So decisions may come up but they are all minds interpretation of the Great Mystery and not the Great Mystery. Useful but limited and I should not pay more attention to it than I would to a pain symptom. Pain is a symptom but not the problem. It’s talking to me and telling me about something deeper.
So interesting how my mind keeps finding ways to bring me back into mind consciousness rather than just staying in awareness. Clearly it is a bad habit. Now that I am only working two days per week with patients it has become so much easier to relax into ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’.
Warm greetings,
Bernard
Hi Bernard,
Your understanding that your thinking process only comes up with a partial view of the situation is good. The mind attempts to make a map or define your experience. But don't mistake your thoughts about your experience for the actual experience itself, the territory.
As an example, there is no way for the mind to define changeless Awareness, which is really what you are. That's because the mind needs change and differences to come up with a definition. So in its attempt to define what you are, your mind may come up with garbage like, "I'm a purple kangaroo."
Believing your thoughts, you get to struggle with them
As you can see, there is no harm in the mind thinking that you are a purple kangaroo. Even if you make, "I'm a purple kangaroo," into a mantra, repeating it again and again, you will not become a purple kangaroo. You can even try it if you want. The only harm might come if you identify, or stand as the thoughts in your mind. Then you might think, "Oh no, I am becoming a purple kangaroo!" Then believing your thoughts you get to struggle with them.
So here's where you can take your meditation one step deeper. You want to let go of the idea that you have a separate mind that you can either accept or reject; a mind that when you are not looking will surely trip you up with its games. This is giving the mind a power that it really doesn't have. It is also setting up an endless struggle, me against my mind.
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This struggle that you seem to have has two sides, doesn't it? There is me, the thing that you assume is you, and there is the enemy, your mind the thing that you struggle with. And, as I mentioned in the previous blog, the problem becomes which side is going to win. Is it the "me" or is it the thoughts.You are the knower, the mind is just an object that you know
Now before I go on I should mention, the thing that you call unknowing is actually the real source of knowing. What you are doing is taking Awareness, which really is the knower and superimposing it on the mind. Then it appears that the mind is a separate knower. This is like calling a rope a snake or a log a crocodile.
All of your fears and struggles are based on taking your mind to have a power that it really doesn't have. So what I am asking you to do is return the power of knowing to the place where it exists anyway. That is in your own identity, the place where you really stand. This is Awareness, where Knowing really comes from.
Splitting the mind in two, you have a struggle
Now here's an easy way to step out of the mind for good: Notice that both sides of the struggle are just thoughts in your mind. What I jokingly called the "me thought" is a thought that you mistakenly take to be you. Then there is the other side of the struggle, which you call mind.
What you are doing is bifurcating your mind, and then one part is struggling with the other. This is like pushing one hand against the other and wondering which hand will win, not knowing that both hands belong to you.
Awareness is not an object that you see; it is what you are
You can't see Awareness as a separate thing. But you will notice that you can see both sides of your struggle; neither side applies to you. When you notice this you will automatically be standing in your natural state where you are one without a second.
Standing here free of both sides, you will end this struggle for good. In fact it will be so ended that you will not have to worry about it coming back again when you are not looking. So you are right that the mind is not good at defining your experiences. Now step out of both sides of your struggle and remain in your true state of oneness.
Return your identity to its rightful place and finish off your practice
This understanding could finish off your practice for good. Continue meditating on these words until you find the place that they point to. If your struggles seem to continue, or if other hooks appear that seem to pull you back into limitation, just continue asking questions until you are completely free.
Right now we are redesigning Making Your Wisdom Come Alive, a book that provides a step by step approach so that you can find your natural freedom. It also gives you plenty of inspiration for your practice. Because we are doing a publicity campaign, there is a good possibility that I will have some radio and TV interviews. So look for them, and if you are allowed to, call in and ask questions. Remember, inner development is for the curious and this may be your opportunity to practice curiosity.
Feel
free to ask questions
Now I want you to experience your
true identity in its full glory. So please
feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your
reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path
of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows
you to abide in your natural freedom.
Best Wishes for Your Practice,
Michael Gluckman
