In this post I would like to keep guiding you towards the realization that who you might be thinking to be is not who you actually are. Since I am a ocean’s lover I will use water as a metaphor to convey this concept. Keep always in mind that what I am pointing to is not an idea or an hypothesis but something you can directly become conscious of in any moment of your life. Why not doing it now?
"Contemplate the possibility that all reality, you included,
might not exist in any objective way, but
could be something absolute manifesting itself
in a relative creative manner"
- A.M -
With the risk to repeat myself what I am trying to make you conscious of is what you truly are, that happens to be also the only “things” existing in reality. Unfortunately this realization is overlooked and quite tricky to notice because this mechanism has been ingeniously created with the purpose of giving the illusion that existence is dual, that is, that there is a subject perceiving an external world made out of objects. Since all reality is non dual, that is, there is only one “thing” existing right now, you might be able to understand how difficult is for me to point in some direction to show you what I am talking about because the finger pointing to that "thing" is itself part of it and not something outside it.
To overcome this limitation imposed by language I will try to use a metaphor to address this puzzling situation.
Imagine that all reality is simply an infinite motionless land of water. By definition infinite means that this land of water has no beginning and no end, it extends forever in all possible directions. The quality of being infinite applies to all possible features of this land of water: no particular shape or form, no particular color, smell or texture. Giving a particular quality, such as being white, would immediately limit it. Try to think about an object that is infinite in all its features. Not easy eh?
At some point this infinite motionless land of water has started "moving", like a shiver running along its surface, forming a small vortex. This vortex can be immediately recognized to be something different from the rest of water. It has its own shape, its own speed of spinning, its own diameter and depth. It has a defined position in space and its borders can be clearly seen, defined and measured. Imagine that the infinite land of water keeps oscillating, producing an infinite number of these vortexes, all unique, all distinguishable by specific features, more and more complexes.
Each vortex, taken separately, seems to have its own existence, seems to be separated from all the other ones. From its personal perspective, each vortex (if it could speak) might tell in detail to another vortex when it has originated, what it has occurred to it today during the day, how fast was spinning, where it has traveled, which other vortex has met, if it has unified itself with other vortex and so on. From its perspective all these events make perfect sense and no other vortex would never question what it has just been said because these experiences reflect also, with some slight differences, what other vortexes might be experiencing during their existence.
Water, in this contracted form, "forgets" to be an infinite field and starts acting as if its nature is limited. Water, by taking a specific perspective, starts to explore and to interact with itself believing to be something other than itself. However, there is nothing but water.
In this scenario each vortex is like a fish in the water: it is not aware that it is navigating in water. Not only is not aware that all around there is just water, but also that itself and every other vortexes are made out of water. In other word, the only substance present in this imagined world is water that assumes an infinite number of shapes. Even though from the vortex's perspective reality seems to be made out of many other vortexes with different features, the only substance truly ever present and existing is water shaping itself in different forms.
Everything clear so far? Good, let's continue...
Why water should decide to limit itself, risking to assume forms that are unaware of their true nature?
It is true that water in its primordial state was infinite but it could not really do much: we could say that was quite boring for water to be “simply” infinite. Indeed, in this state this infinite land of motionless water could not even know to be or exist. It simply is without knowing anything about itself. Being water the only perspective existing, it is like saying that there are not point of views at all because there is nothing else that could contrast its point of view. To know or being aware of its own existence there must have been someone or something else “externally” pointing to water and say “you exist, you are there”. Simply put, only with the existence of something else than water, water could become aware of its own existence. Therefore, water had to assume the form of a limited perspective, the vortex, to be able to interact and know itself.
Only after having taken a specific form and shape, only after having limited itself, water could become someone specific, a vortex, that can know and explore the world. Only now that an “external” point of view has been only apparently created, water can start knowing about itself by assuming a specific point of view. I want to stress that this limitation and exploration make sense only from the point of view of the vortex and it is therefore relative. Indeed, in absolute term, this limitation and exploration is only apparent because in reality there is only water and therefore there is no world to explore, there is no place to travel, there is nothing to do. We could say that water, just out of curiosity, in the attempt to explore what does it means to be infinite, it started assuming any possible limited vortex conformation to experience and feel what it means existing as a specific perspective. Only by assuming a specific point of view water could go around and explore itself, something that would have been impossible in its infinite formless form.
I think the metaphor points quite clearly to the fact that each vortex represents what is present right now in our daily life. Example of vortexes in our reality are humans and their feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions and mind. Also plants, animals, minerals, objects, stars, galaxies, planets and everything else are vortexes with their unique perspective to look at and experience reality. Each of these manifestations represents a specific conformation of what I have been trying to point to you in all these posts, something that like water wants to test its infinite creative potential and starts exploring itself. This something is what you are and what you have to become conscious of. What you truly are is that which has decided to only apparently "limit" itself to get a limited perspective and explore itself as a human being (in your case).
Even if you are not aware of it, your life as a human represents the unique opportunity to make experience to your true nature (the equivalent of water) whatever you want to. Importantly there is no difference in nature between you as a human being and what you truly are because you are made out of the same substance. It only seems to be different from your relative point of view as human. Once again there is no separation between your true nature and you as a human, it only looks like from your limited perspective. Awakening helps you to destroy this illusory wall.
For all our life we are taught to be a vortex, that is, a limited point of view that is separate from the world we live. We are taught that others and the world we live in have nothing to do with what we are. What I am is this physical human body-mind. The degree of identification in being something specific is directly proportional to the amount of fear and suffering you are going to experience in your life: more you identify and act as being a limited vortex, more suffering and fear you will experience in your life and vice-versa.
To make even more clear this point I want to refer to a personal example. As I have already explained in details in my post " First Glimpses Towards My True Nature", in younger age I suffered of OCD, an obsessive compulsive disorder that was "obliging" me to follow specific schemes and behaviors in order to feel some relief from the burden of all these mental patterns that were literally ruling my life. In this context I have unconsciously decided to assume a very limited shape that could not have much freedom in creating whatever I wanted in life. The identification with this very limited identity was so strong and contracted that I was bound to suffer. Almost miraculously I could in a moment of clarity dis-identify myself from all these patterns and get some fresh oxygen from this suffocating condition. At that time I had no idea what just happened but I now know that I simply allowed the vortex I was identifying with to expand, to include more water as me. In a moment I realized to be something bigger than what I thought to be. With time, my sense of identification kept expanding till I realized what I and the world around me is.
What I am trying to point to here is what you actually are, the infinite land of water that at the moment, due to your low level of consciousness, thinks and believes to be a simple limited vortex that is interacting with an external world. Honestly there is nothing wrong to live life from this limited perspective. Many humans that are not awake and that have never bumped into any non-dual book are indeed conducting a model life. Nevertheless I do believe that most of humanity lives life not at its full potential and that an enormous amount of suffering and fear is what prevents us to accomplish something worthy to our potential.
Most of us are living life as a vortex: we keep spinning without really knowing what the hell we are doing and where are we heading on. We smash our head in trying to find a reason and a purpose of our existence and most of the time we wait for some special events to change our life. Once you discover to be the land of infinite water, you will realize that there is nowhere to go and nothing to do. In a sense life is meaningless and purposeless. But watch out: this does not mean that life is unworthily to be lived. Meaningless and purposeless simply indicate that you, in your human manifestation, can give any meaning and any purpose of life. Just be creative in manifesting whatever you love and whatever fulfills your days with joy. It can be anything as long as it resonates with your unique manifestation.
I like to believe that if there is a purpose in life is to discover that we are nothing but water and once we have clear that, we have the power and strength to accept the fact that we are here as manifested limited human beings capable of great deals. Only after this realization you, as a human, can get busy in discovering your own purpose in this earthly life without forgetting your true nature. Being a human without knowing your infinite nature is not an easy deal and I believe it is a position that completely exposes you to all the ups and downs that life is giving you daily. By realizing where to stand in life will make you able to face any events with the right perspective.
The importance of awakening resides in not getting lost in worthless actions and activities, in stopping limiting yourself and be aware of your infinite potential in creating whatever you love to create. In my opinion the realization that you, as a human being, do not have to do anything that you do not want to do is an incredible insight to be able to focus exclusively in creating a life you are passion of. Overall, life can be seen simply as the desire of this infinite land of water to experience something about itself and it is up to you as a human being to let yourself experience something incredible.
Living a more conscious life requires you to find yourself. It requires you to identify the land of water that you are knowing that whatever you will find cannot logically be you but only a vortex manifested as you....
So, who are you? In your direct experience, what is this infinite land of water?
Thanks for reading and see you next week!