Who is Ignorant?

One cannot deny his/her presence at any time. The sense of presence or awareness is ever fresh and always available. First and foremost, one has to be aware or present before any thoughts can arise. This unmanifest awareness, manifests as the thought "I am". But, the Awareness is prior to the thought "I am". Once the thought "I am" arises, it associates with the body/mind creating a (false) entity or idea, called "I am Joe, I am this body" or "I am Jane, I am this body". This false-entity believes that it is real. This false belief is the source of all suffering. This false-entity, starts to seek for an end to suffering or for permanent happiness. Since, the false-entity is nothing but a creation of the mind, it seeks for happiness in the mind or other objects that the mind perceives ( the world out there). All the time that the mind seeks out there, it ignores what is already here and now, the presence. Therefore, all seeking out there, takes one farther away from what they are actually seeking. All the time, this false-entity is ignoring what is already present here and now and very self evident and clear and obvious. This is what is meant by ignorance in many of the spiritual texts. The fact the you are present here and now cannot be denied by anyone who is reading this message. If you stop ignoring what is right here and right now, the ever present awareness, then where is the question of finding what you are looking for. It never was absent, for you to find it in the first place.

Once, upon investigation, it becomes clear that there is actually no real entity called "I am Joe etc.", the false belief falls away and yet you exist (only now as a non-entity). You exist AS the awareness or presence ( not as "joe"or "jane", a person, an individual who thinks he/she is the body/mind entity). Unfortunately, for many, this message, although clear, is unacceptable. Why is that so? Because the message points to something too subtle that the mind cannot grasp. It is not a grand sensation or feeling. There is no high, so to speak. The mind is addicted to and enjoys the bigger and bolder and louder sensations out there in the world. The mind wants an out of body experience. It wants to go to a "higher plane of consciousness". The mind says "this cannot be IT". The mind says, "What I have been searching for all these years cannot be so simple", "I feel like a fool!". The mind finds this message too boring and too subtle for its liking considering that there is so much more grosser things and sensations available for it to enjoy. Therefore, the mind continues to prop up the concept of an individual who will some day, some time, in the future, find the utopia that it has been searching for.

However, if upon hearing this message, once the mind gets used to relaxing into this subtle sense of presence (which some call the I AM), there is feeling of immense peace and quiet or stillness. Hopefully, whoever comes across this message is able to Understand this pointer. Feel free to leave comments or questions.

The real meaning of Pointers

What is actually meant by pointers? That is what we will try to clarify today. There can be many pointers pointing to the same thing. For instance, Chicago can be approached from the North, South, East, and West. Although, the pointers are from various directions, they are all pointing to Chicago. When the arrow points to Chicago, the mind immediately associates the word Chicago, with the concept that it already has, of a city, perhaps with tall skyscrapers, shoreline, etc. If the city is already known, then the image of the city appears in the mind. The pointers however are not the entity that they are pointing to. Meaning the word Chicago is not really Chicago itself, but just a word. This is very important to understand. Another example, the word Water. As soon as you hear it, the mind creates a concept of a clear colorless, tasteless, liquid. But the word water itself is not the liquid itself, but just points to that concept. As soon as a word is mentioned, the mind goes into high gear trying to connect the word to a concept which it already knows or associate with something it creates at that moment. Mostly, the pointer is mistaken to be the entity itself. This may sound silly, but as the following explanation will clarify, it is not difficult to be misled.

Here, of course, we will be talking of Reality, Awareness, THAT or the Truth ( or whatever else you may call IT). When the mind is pointed to Reality, it immediately tries to conceptualize it. The mind cannot conceptualize anything that is not occupying space and time. Depending on what the mind comes up with, it tries to make it into an object, an object occupying space and time, so that it can grasp it. Therefore a lot of pointers try to use words that make it easy for the mind to grasp this subtle message being pointed to. Words like space-like, deep blue, stillness, silence, no-thing, emptiness, are often used as pointers. But none of these words actually is the Reality that they are pointing to. For instance, the word Awareness, is beyond easy description and therefore is frequently used pointer to try and prevent the mind from trying to form a concept. One can also use the word, Non-conceptual Awareness. Even more confounding to the mind!! Some use the word Spirit or Absolute ( although now one can conceptualize a brand of vodka/spirit with the name Absolut!!). As long as the mind hears these words(pointers) it tries to understand them in the form of concepts.

The bottom line is that the answer is not in the mind. One has to come to the firm conviction that what is unknown is who they are. Whatever is known, perceived, conceptualized, cannot be what I truly am.