Enlightenment is the realization that you can’t get what you already are… new MJ Awakening Blog August 26, 2016

Enlightenment is not an experience for one simple reason… all experiences come and go; You, awareness, do not. Thus, no experience is actually You as You are changelessly ever-present for every experience, regardless of what it is.

Therefore enlightenment is Self recognition of what is already so. It’s not a doing, but an understanding. And the realization that is understood is that you don’t have to (and in fact literally can’t!!) do anything to “get” what you already are. Seeing this for Yourself is the end of seeking.

Michael Jeffreys

Advertisement

What is our shared, common experience? Surely it’s not our thoughts… new MJ Awakening pic quote August 24, 2016

You can download a png copy of this pic quote here:

 http://files.meetup.com/380035/mj%20not%20our%20thoughts%20sea%20shell%20pic%20quote.png

Happiness is freedom from objects, The veil is illusory, & You have never come, gone or changed … new MJ Awakening Blog August 19, 2016

(picture: Adi Shankara – “Early 8th century philosopher and theologian from India who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.” -Wikipedia)

Happiness is freedom from all objects, including who you think you are

“What I need is an object that contains limitless happiness that I could possess and enjoy every minute of my life.” –James Swartz

MICHAEL: James’ quote highlights why no object can ultimately get the job done, i.e., give us what we are all looking for: unalloyed happiness. Note that this includes “yourself”, i.e., the person you think you are. Why? Because who you think you are, this idea, is an object to You and thus incapable of bringing abiding peace and happiness.

 

The veil is illusory

VEIL (noun): something that covers, separates, screens, or conceals. –dictionary.com

MICHAEL: The eternal light of our being remains veiled from us as long as we take ourselves to be limited to a time-bound body.

 

You have never come, gone or changed

“The knower of experience is not affected by experience. You don’t modify when any experience happens.” – James Swartz

MICHAEL: You, formless, changeless, unlimited, eternally free awareness, remain ever-present and untouched by all fleeting appearances/experiences. Note that you cannot think about awareness. Why? Because thought appears IN awareness as an object. Without awareness, you cannot have thought as what would be aware of thought??

A common “trap” on the pathless path… new MJ Awakening Blog August 12, 2016

A common “trap” on the pathless path of self-realization is upon hearing that your true nature is consciousness, to then try to imagine yourself as being consciousness. But this doesn’t and cannot work. Why? Because consciousness, you, are nondual.

So, if there is a “me” trying to imagine itself as being “consciousness,” then what? Then there are two “things” and I am in mind, duality. But if what I already am is nondual that means I can only realize myself not by thinking about myself, but by simply being myself. And since I already am myself, that means there is nothing I need do to get to myself.

I can’t arrive at a place I’ve never left; I can only recognize that fact or ignore it and keep trying to get there.

Michael Jeffreys

What’s true has never said a word… new MJ Awakening pic quote August 10, 2016

You can download a png quality copy of this pic quote here:

http://files.meetup.com/380035/mj%20whats%20true%20has%20never%20said%20a%20word%20lotus%20pic%20quote.png

 

Stop identifying with what is endlessly changing and “stay put”… new MJ Awakening Blog August 8, 2016

Awakening is NOT making the personality “you” disappear or change. It’s seeing clearly that it’s not inherently You. Is not the “personal you” constantly changing? One moment up, the next down, the next bored, etc.

As soon as you say you are the “up” one, then you are saying you are not the “down” or “bored” one. And as soon as you claim to be the “down” one, then you are saying you are not the “up” or “bored” one. And as soon as you claim to be the “bored” one, you are saying you are not the “up” or “down” one.

The persona/mood of the jiva is always changing. But that which notices ALL changes doesn’t come or go or change. In other words, you begin to be AWARE of the mind, rather then being the mind. You stop identifying with what is endlessly changing and “stay put.”

This takes practice! We have become so habitually conditioned to believe our thoughts, that the idea of “staying put” takes a re-orientation of sorts. Left to its own device, the jiva will go to thoughts because that’s what its been programmed to do. See this, notice this, become aware of it, observe it… as it’s all that’s going on every moment.

Michael Jeffreys

Unlike thoughts You, Consciousness, do not come or go… new MJ Awakening Blog August 6, 2016

You, Consciousness, do not come and go. On the other hand, thoughts are endlessly coming and going. One changes, the other does not. If I identify with “my” thoughts, then I believe I can change. (Note that we are not talking about our “personality/persona,” which is continuously changing according to whatever thoughts are arising.)

But what if I do not identify with thoughts? How? By noticing that they appear to me and then disappear to me. So me, what I AM, is always here, unchanging, and open to receive the next thought or feeling.

So only if I identify with a thought’s contents can I “get into trouble” (And only apparently, but never in actuality. Why? Because you can only think/believe you’ve changed, but you are made of changeless-ness so that you are always aware of every apparent change! Again, in order for there to be change, something has to be aware of this. This awareness, YOU, cannot change as what would be aware of this change??)

Consciousness is attribute-less and thus part-less. Thoughts are made of attributes and thus parts. One is always changing and the other never changes.

See the difference?

Michael Jeffreys

p.s. And now is it not obvious why you can never lose awareness (nor gain it) …because it’s what you are.

Why does someone steal? …new MJ Awakening Blog August 5, 2016

Why does someone steal? Because they believe that object they are taking will make them happy and so they want it around themselves. And so they just take it, even though it is not theirs. But, does the object make them happy for long? No. And so what? They have to keep stealing in the hopes that the next object will “do it,” i.e, give them that sense of lasting satisfaction that they so desperately seek.

Note that their desire for lasting satisfaction is legit and correct, but the way they are going about obtaining it is not. What the thief has yet to see is that what they really want, above all else, is themselves! The Self. What they ALREADY are and have always been. This will always be missed if we think what we truly are can be found inside any particular object, including our own body.

Michael Jeffreys