The Solution
Know Thyself
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To
know yourself is to be aware.
The problem is a problem of knowledge as false knowledge of who you are. Thus the solution is true knowledge of your authentic nature. Every sage, prophet, avatar and guru in her or his own way has directed you to the solution of this fundamental problem with the prescription:
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"Know Thyself" ~ from the entrance of the Temple of Apollo, Delphi, attributed to Socrates (also the Greek 'gnothi seauton' attributed to Pythagoras, Chilon of Sparta, Thales of Miletus and Solon of Athens, and the Latin rendering as 'nosce te ipsum' or 'temet nosce')
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"Be a light unto yourself" ~ the final words of Gautama the Buddha
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"Who am I?" ~ the Atma Vichara of Ramana Maharshi
- "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) imperial rule is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) imperial rule is inside you and outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." ~ Jesus, Gospel of Thomas Verse 3
- “Don’t look for the kingdom of God elsewhere because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)
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Knowing
yourself is not knowledge like the knowledge of a science or language
because it is self-referential in nature. Like being in Love, it
is known by by being it.
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The
Solution is: Standing as Awareness
Awareness is the Principle and the Practice
To know yourself is to be aware.
There are two approaches to this solution:
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Awareness as the individual
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in this approach the idea of minuteness and separation of the individual falls away through surrender and devotion to Source [the universal]
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Awareness as the universal
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this approach is an implosion process whereby Mistaken Identity dissolves though knowledge and understanding
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This site [and the practrice of Being Yoga] is an example of the second of these approaches called the Direct Approach
The Direct Approach is fourfold:
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the process is undertken knowingly as a deconstruction that facilitates implosion/dissolving
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the physical world, which includes your body, dissolves into sensing
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sensing along with thinking, feeling and doing dissolves into Witnessing Consciousness
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Witnessing Consciousness dissolves into Pure Consciousness, your true nature
It is self-evident that before and behind all existence which means all things and beings is Awareness as Awareness of things like thinking, feeling and objects etc., and Awareness of being.
Awareness is the only thing (a 'thing' as the ground of being) that has an inside. In other words Awareness is the only thing that has substance. The substance of Awareness is action as it is aware. Action is motion, which means energy, and modern science has irrefutably proved that matter is materialized energy or energy in an orderly formation. In this light it is clear that the substance of all things/forms is Awareness.
Awareness itself is formless yet it expresses itself in form as described above. The problem of Mistaken Identity arises when a distinct form of Awareness identifies with and as its form instead of Being Awareness.
The key to the solution of Standing as Awareness is the living nature of the approach as the means is the end. It is remaining as the current of Being Awareness itself and its spontaneous, authentic action rather than living from the mentally generated realm of thinking that is the source of the idea of separation and conflict.
“You
cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.
You must learn to see the world anew.” ~ Albert Einstein
The problem of mistaken identity is a problem of self-knowledge as false knowledge of your true nature. It is a mentally generated problem that is resolved by Awareness as the primal intelligence that sees the false as false and no longer supports it. In this way the impostor of mistaken identity dies through starvation - what remains is what is never not the case which is Awareness wherein all of your faculties are free to function without distortion.
How do you know what you know?
Awareness is Wholeness yet the function of describing it is thinking that causes it to appear in two forms: Spacious Awareness and Attending Awareness. This example of functioning also reveals the nature of the problem of Mistaken Identity as any mental identification or description generates the separation of subject and object. In other words the mental activity of thinking and describing anything, including Awareness, is the process of objectifying it and this is the cause of separation.
This does not mean that thinking is not useful as it is self-evident that thinking is functionally very beneficial. The point here is simply awareness of the consequence of thinking wherein it is clear that any mentally created description is not the thing itself.
In this light Standing as Awareness means that Being Awareness is the Agent and the Actor such that Awareness is Doing. For example Awareness of the problem is the action that resolves the problem simply because the understanding of that which is false is the action of avoiding it, and, the energy that was caught up in Mistaken Identity is freed to manifest harmoniously.
In the exploration of the solution of Standing as Awareness there can be great debates about Awareness, Consciousness, Perception, God Consciousness and Seeing etc. yet these debates are mental distractions that do not address the thing itself. Awareness by whatever name or mental description is the solution. And no belief is required as Awareness is self-evident - it is its own knowing.
Another false conclusion that often arises for the me that explores this solution is that since it means the ending of me as the doer, or a separate entity who is doing, then nothing gets done. This is simply not the case as the problems and situations of life continue to arise for anyone who lives this understanding yet instead of identifying themselves as someone who has a problem to deal with, all situations are welcomed in Awareness. This welcoming without identification as a welcomer is Being Awareness that clearly sees things as they are, and when there is clarity in seeing, intelligent action arises spontaneously. Such action is appropriate to the moment wherein thinking and previous experience are instruments of Awareness rather than mental operators reacting to situations according to their self-interest.
The fourfold practices of Being Yoga as: Nisarga Yoga, Nidra Yoga Meditation, Nonduality Satsangs and Meditation are means of applying the Solution described above.