off and everything was completely black, as black and as dark as possible. There was absolutely no light but that didn’t mean that seeing wasn’t occurring or that seeing wasn’t possible.
This is a good analogy for what we are discussing about witnessing because we can see before seeing and hear before hearing. There is something that is before time – it is that which we truly are. It is beyond all concepts and reality, but it is what we are.
When death occurs to a particular body, what appears to have unity and integrity breaks down. It begins to tear apart. What we identify with at birth also fades with the body at death. Though apparent life continues, in order for it to be known, another body, another entity, another consciousness needs to be created. What this ultimately means is that without the knower, there’s nothing that can be known.
The ultimate, that which we are, continues to create everything that exists out of the nothingness. But it is a creation – it is not what we really are at our core. It’s not our true self; it’s rather our false self. We identify with it to the point where we might forget who we are or we forget that we are that from which everything originates. We are the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality, out of which the entire universe is constantly being created.
Sometimes I compare it to a water droplet that feels separate from the vast ocean. We adopt an identity as a water droplet but when we die, though that water droplet still moves on, has always been and will always be, instead of identifying itself with the water droplet, its identity has taken on the vast, infinite ocean. Throughout life we get confused. We identify ourselves with that which is only an illusion, that which is temporary, like the water droplet. Instead we should submerge ourselves into the witness state.
The suffering of life dissipates when we take on the witness state and stop identifying with everything that’s happening. When you do this, you can be unattached and free. When we’re free, we’re also in a position to identify with our ultimate self which is vast like the ocean, infinite, beyond all description, and is that on which everything is created. The key here is to stop identifying with the egoic mind and realize who we really are.
Who are we before we are born? Who will we be after we die? What is it that is truly permanent? What part of us has always been and will always be? We should strive to be that.
When we identify with what never sleeps, what never is awake, and on which everything is formed, then we are home. We have discovered our true self. Freedom and peace can then settle in.
We unfortunately identify with such a small part of who we are. Again, it’s like the water droplet in the vast ocean thinking, “I’m a water droplet! I’m a water droplet! Wow!” Yet, when we identify with who we really are – the vast ocean – and realize the illusion of our water droplet, we are free. We’ve always been free but we’ve limited ourselves so much that we’ve lost our true selves. What we truly are is still there, though, but we just seem to have forgotten it.
The key to finding it is earnestness. If we truly want to discover who we really are, we must be earnest. This is the most beautiful gift that was given to me. I just never gave up on finding out who or what I am. I kept searching and when I found the truths that I discovered were limited or were the ultimate truth, even though it was difficult at times, I kept going. We have to be honest and keep going. Let us never give up but rather keep moving forward until we discover our ultimate, true selves.
Not being honest is one of the key things that keep people from truly finding awakening, because it can be subtle in its trap. They want to teach and help others, but they haven’t finished helping themselves. It’s a painful, challenging, difficult process. But if we’re truly earnest we will find the truth. The point is never to give up. The ultimate focus needs to be on “I am” beingness. Who am I? If you keep returning to this question everything can be found in the “I am.” All our answers and searching dissipates in the “I am” because we learn how to just be.
Though this may seem challenging at times, it truly is the simplest and easiest way to discover who we are.
Chapter 6
The Ultimate Purpose of Meditation: Meditation’s Role in Enlightenment
I began meditating almost thirty years ago. I think at first I began just out of curiosity. I had been studying meditation in my academic training and learned how science has shown that meditation is very beneficial to us.
When I started meditating I found it to be a very relaxing, peaceful experience. Over time as I grew and discovered that meditation is really helpful for our spiritual growth, I really dived into it. I now consistently meditate every day, usually once in the morning for about an hour and then in the evening for about half an hour.
How does meditation help us live life to the fullest? The primary purpose of meditation is self-awareness: to really understand who and what we are. In that discovery we find that at our core we truly are the ultimate source of everything.
Most of us live a life of unawareness, where we are not really sure of who or what we are. We go through life thinking, “I’m a doctor”, “I’m a lawyer”, “I’m a kind person”, “I’m married”, “I’m a father” or “I’m a mother.” We place labels on ourselves but they don’t help us locate who we are.
The ultimate truth of what we are cannot change. If it had to change, then how could we be it? That would be like saying, “I live in this house so I am this house.” But then if you move to a new house, you can’t possibly have been the initial house.
But then what are we? Are we truly a doctor? Are we truly a father? Even these things can change. Our children can die or we might end our profession, for instance. If you really think about it, even one’s character can change. For example, after meditating for so many decades now, I’ve become a much calmer and more peaceful person. That person I was before has changed, so does that mean I am the person I was before?
What meditation does is help us look within and discover who we are, what we truly are in a permanent state. When we slow down and look, we discover that which is permanent is very basic. It is like the space in which we live. We put furniture in the space, along with ourselves and many things. But when we remove everything, what is left is a space. Similarly, when we eat we put a lot of different tastes in our mouths and we enjoy them. Sometimes we don’t like them, but what is the taste we have when there is no food in our mouths? What is that experience? Going back to the basis of what we are without all the extra furnishings and tastes is what meditation enables us to do. It helps us discover who we are. When everything is removed, everything that isn’t permanent is taken away and we discover who we are because we start looking inward instead of constantly reacting to outside stimuli.
Many of us are like conditioned puppets. When someone praises us we feel so wonderful inside but when someone criticizes us we feel sad or angry. Who is this person that is feeling sad? Who is this person that is feeling excited? Who is this person on which all these events are occurring? This is what meditation sets out to answer. Its ultimate purpose is to discover who we are. If we don’t know who we are, we are really slaves or puppets to ourselves.
Meditation is about cutting those puppet strings. When you discover that almost everything that you have done is just a conditioned reaction, you stop reacting and rather start living, start just being. Through meditation, those things that are unconscious become conscious. When we discover that we’re not our thoughts, we’re not our conditioning, we’re not who we thought we were, our minds become quiet and we learn to just live. We can just be without all the mind chatter.
It’s a beautiful experience. I can only encourage you to seek out the quiet mind, and
