The mind labels and contextualises, the body senses, and the heart knows.
The only thing we know for sure is that we exist and are aware that we exist. Looking at the Universe through the eyes of the mind, everything else is just like a complex computer program, comparable to a form of artificial intelligence that, because of its complexity, gives the appearance of knowing but is just an extensive process. It is a complex, multi-layered chain of events that form what our mind calls a Universe. However subtle, complex, and astounding our intellectual knowledge is, in the final analysis, it is only a labelling system relying on metaphors of reality, not the direct knowing of truth. In this respect, we know almost nothing about reality. Scientists are often, humbly, the first to acknowledge how little we really know. This humility allows them to continue their exploration of the metaphors of reality with an open mind. Unfortunately, this is not true of other branches of society. Many have mistakenly claimed their metaphors of reality ARE reality and are dogmatic and closed-minded. They have overlooked the truth that is known for sure in experience, for a complexity that is, at best, a metaphor of what is known.
We know we exist. Some form or reality is understanding these words right now. Suppose we can let go of our belief that it is our brain that understands these words and recognise, on the level of experience, we have no evidence this understanding comes from the brain. In that case, we can be that open-minded person who glimpses a sense of reality beyond the brain. We can say for sure there is something rather than nothing understanding these words right now. This reality is real! It is us. On close examination, we cannot find and us and a separate it. We can only find one reality. We commonly call it “I”. This is the I deep beneath what we generally call our personality. It is the knowing that is not dependent on anything like that. We can also say that we are aware that we exist. We are instantly immediately aware of our existence; even though we cannot see any objective proof of this reality, we know it directly. This knowing does not require any phenomena or metaphor; it is a direct knowing of our existence.
Beyond that, we know very little, though, allowing our minds to master us; we may believe we know a lot if we listen to them. But here again, we are falling into the alluring trap of believing our minds and forgetting what we know directly based on our experience. Our minds may tell us that our existence is separate from the Universe based purely on the sensory information they interpret. In other words, our minds want to tell us they know us better than we know ourselves. Our minds want to claim that knowing is about knowing things. Everything is reduced to an item. The unqualified direct experience of our existence is diminished to a physical body, symbols, icons, temples or gurus, beliefs that become dogmatic etc. If we believe the mind, we will mistake what is true based on experience for what the mind believes is true based on the metaphor of experience.
Why rush to follow the mind? Why put so much store in what IT thinks it knows about our reality? Why let our mind master us? The only reason is that we have downgraded or even forgotten or underplayed the direct knowing of our existence and become fascinated by the complexity of the theories our minds have put to us. However, the mind has to admit one thing. It doesn’t know if this reality that is aware, understanding and ascribing meaning to these words IS limited to the physical brain and body. It has absolutely no idea. It can only theorise about this and insist it does know and even try to frighten us into believing its version of reality is right!
It has no choice but to admit it does not know and can therefore be open to the possibility that the reality that exists and is understanding and ascribing meaning to these words is unlimited. It does not know it is not. With that, the mind can quieten, and it becomes clear that we do not need its metaphorical machination to know ourselves. We know ourselves directly without its interference. We are a “trans-mind” form of knowing that can directly know our own reality. This realisation of our trans-mind-knowing nature allows us to directly glimpse the reality of our existence. This glimpse is the experience of a timeless, spaceless presence that leads us instantly to experience a powerful, life-affirming love. Then we see that everything the mind tells us about is happening within and from our existence and not separate from it. The eternal nature of our existence becomes immediately apparent, and the fear of mortality drops away. Any sense of competitive inadequacy drops from our minds as we see that we are not a fragment of reality and allow ourselves to enjoy the more profound view that we are the flow of a single reality that comprises everything. We cease to interpret our individuality as separateness. How fortunate we are to realise this. Then we can begin the task of learning to live by it.
And then, the mind breathes one almighty sigh of relief. It is safe at last and now can enjoy itself without fear and the need to clutch to what it thinks is reality. Free of this attachment, its capacities can shine.
Love
Freyja
July 2023
