direct experience and forgettingWhat is Direct Experience
How do we define ‘direct experience’? Direct experience refers to the extent to which we observe what is happening in the mind, how we relate to the world, how we relate to each other. Direct experience refers to what we notice about life beyond what we are conditioned to see. We are conditioned when we believe what we are taught; when we are thoroughly convinced that our beliefs, whatever they refer to, are the Truth, that they are real. As human beings, we are a conditioned species. If we were not conditioned, we would not be labelled a species at all. We would not exist in bodies and do what we do so instinctively. We Don’t Forget - We Refocus We tend to imagine that we have forgotten who we are. Though we use the idea to explain our various states of mind, the concept of forgetfulness is not real. With conditioning, we focus on a belief, a set of ideas, and we ignore everything else about ourselves or the world that opposes that belief. In other words, we re-focus or ‘forget’ everything else. If we believe we cannot do something, we ignore all the faculties that insist that we can in fact do it. To sustain an idea of ourselves or of the world, we have to find evidence that it is true and focus on that evidence. All of our beliefs are able to exist only because we reinforce them through ‘evidence’. The Truth of who we are is always with us because we are It. We can in fact work out complex mathematical formulas; we can all write symphonies, we can all fly to the moon and back, we can do anything we choose, but the body will only allow us to perform certain tasks because it is designed to demonstrate our ‘forgetfulness’. Through millions of generations of DNA conditioning, we have consolidated our beliefs so profoundly, that our body mechanics responds to our ideas. We are we are limited to only certain activities, both physically and mentally. We can no longer fly, levitate, perform certain mental tasks. Noticing/Refocusing On Who We Are Now that we recognize them, we need not worry about the limitations that reflect in our physical manifestations of earthly life. What we do need to do is re-awaken to who we truly are and to return to the True Self, we have to undo every idea about our humanity that we entertain. The Kali’s Sword exercises assist us in re-focusing on who we are. They help us start the process of noticing that which is always there. |
a note before you beginexperience through the sensesExperience occurs through the senses: We experience the following:
awarenessExperience can only exist through awareness. Throughout everything that occurs in experience is an unwavering awareness. Awareness IS. We do not sense it. We do not possess it. We do not need something in order to be aware. We are awareness itself.
labelsEverything in the universe is labelled. Everything is named. Names are not just names. Names have a story around them. All stories are taught to us. No story is real. Anything in form has a label, and anything is form is illusory. And illusions exist because of stories that we tell. When the stories stop being told, the illusion disappears. The only True Story is that of the formless True Self. Even 'True Self' is a label, used so that we have a mental reference for the human mind.
I, you, it, US, themThese words are labels, and each of these labels have a story that is made up of ideas. Without the label, without the story to define it further we would not have any sense of separation. There would be no 'I' or 'You' or 'Us' or 'Them'.
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