Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A FishBowl of Freedom

Please don't come to me or any other 'guide' asking to help you see no self.  It's not that I won't try to be of some help, but, no offense here, I'm just not going to help You.

Most of the folks who contact me or any other guide are looking for one thing... to be a self who sees No Self.  Because then, they reason, they will be free.  The problem is that they're not willing, even after it appears that the selfing has been seen through, to make the final leap into seeing that they can never be free.  Sure, the first phase or two may have become clear... no doer, no seer, etc., but that last bit remains elusive.  And the last bit is to turn around to see who it is who just got Free.

That's when the scary bit comes in. 

Let it sink in.  You can never, ever be free no matter how many guides you go to.  You can never be free no matter how many facebook groups you join And you can never be free even if you see it so well that you are successful in guiding others. There is no graduation into enlightenment.

You may have read that paragraph and mentally agreed that it's true, even as you thought, "Oh, that's not me, that's not what I'm doing." 

But do you see that reflexive little thought right there?  It comes along pretty fast, and brings the You right back into the inquiry. 

So let's just say that little loop of thought is recognized as a trap and you're pretty sure you've seen through it.  Maybe you're gaining some confidence in the No You arena and have begun to talk about it with others.  On facebook, you post the most insightful soliloquies on the topic of reality. 

You still won't be Free.  It'll just be the You doing all of that. 

Nothing can never assert itself.  And let me rephrase that:  What is No Thing, what has no form and substance, can ever assert itself.  It's the You who does that.  And it's the You who began this journey that the You can't possibly finish.

Stop looking to get free.  As a last step in the inquiry, turn around to find out who or what has been inquiring.   When it's clearly seen that there can be no resolution or freedom for you,  you'll also clearly see why and how seeking goes on forever.  Then, when sadness, worry, shame and frustration, or any other negative emotion you expected to ease up or disappear shows up, the understanding comes that it was just the You who thought that they were going to go away.  It was just the You who wanted to be No One.

photo credit:  They Want to Control You by oO-Rein-Oo on DeviantArt