Dreaming

What is your experience of yourself when there is no thought? What survives, if anything at all? Is That not present always, whether thought is or not? Is That not eternal, unchaging and discontinuous with time, mind or any concept?

To clarify, allow me to share with you a dream. I dreamed that I was at satsang. The question arose, "What is the difference between being Being, between being Presence and being one who is present? just then, mind jumped to another question: that of whether or not one could become better at being Being. As soon as I asked it, the absurdity of what I was asking was noticed. The slightest bit of effort, and you become one who is present. This is conceptual. To be Presence itself, no effort is needed. You are not required.

From the perspective of Presence, to become better at being, or any involvement with personal evolution is a mental game, an intellectual exercise. first you imagine yourself as you believe you are then as you would like to be. The whole process begins and ends with imagination. It is a kind of dream.

Timelessness means, that the starting point is always Being. One doesn't evolve, develop, or process. One simply begins at the finish line. Any race is unnecessary. In fact, it is the block.

What the realized have realized is that the starting point has always been that of undifferentiated Wholeness. It is mind that makes the divisions. Without mind, without mentation, these are non-existent. Divisions are simply not there. These so called divisions go hand in hand with your considerations. Consider for a moment how much of the ocean is wave and how much is stillness, how much is shallow or deep? See how consideration divides what is whole.

If you project this understanding onto self, you can see the ridiculousness of this approach to reality. You might proceed in this way. Four fourths make a whole, therefore, I am 25% body, 25% mind, 25% emotions and 25% spirit. This obviously is absurd, and yet it is how a majority approach the idea of self. Maybe not exactly in that way, but one is still split in two, one is 50/50: body and soul, flesh and spirit, shadow and light. This understanding reflects a lack of understanding, even no understanding of undifferentiated wholeness.

It is mind that differentiates. It is mind that includes and excludes, and it is mind that refers qualities which become ego. This is why all of experience, except an experience of timelessness, or choicelesness has been talked about as a dream.