I have a question, and I´d really appreciate a reply from you. Can you please tell me what is it within us that reincarnates? If our real Self is absolute, and my insights lead me to that conclusion, doesn´t it mean that reincarnation is a fiction imposed over our true "I"?
Be careful not to reify our real condition. We are beyond the sort of thing we would regard as a self. The only thing we can say we are when we are in that absolute condition is awareness suffused with emptiness. It's not an object or something we can point to. We've been an innumerable number of beings, and self never stays the same. It's like when we dream we can imagine that we are someone else who is not who we are in daily life; or, we can even dream that we are several people at once who have nothing to do with our daily self. What is reborn is simply consciousness. Each time it is reborn, it is a different point of view, with unique experiences and new problems. The old self is shed entirely. This is why it is simply empty awareness. Anything can happen.
Thank you very much! Yes, when I spoke about a "self" I did not mean any particular object that I consider to be "I", but rather an impersonal Aware Space that hosts my individuality and other´s.
I am sorry to insist, but I still have doubts. That "empty awareness" we spoke about is impersonal by definition, and it is also my understanding that has no qualities whatsoever, which is the reason why it is able to "host" all that is personal and has objective qualities. If the awareness that hosts my present body-mind perspective is the same that hosts a previous life where I was, say, a soldier (and I believe that´s the case, since empty Awareness is not in space-time and has no spacio-temporal qualities or personal charachteristics, so there can´t be two awarenesses), then the thing that reincarnates should be something objective, some physical or mental quality that was present in my life as a soldier and also in my present life. What could that be?
Sorry for this. I am not challenging you, but I really haven´t found any satisfactory explanation for this and I think you can explain it.
So, this self is just an illusion. We imagine ourselves, even though there has never been a self. It is like a wave in an ocean thinking that it is separate from the ocean, and an ocean that thinks it is separate from other oceans. Even though nothing could exist without absolutely everything else in the universe, it is illusory to think that something could be separate. So, even in our daily life, this thing we think of as separate and constant, is constantly changing and interdependent. We are awareness, without knowing that we are aware. We are that ineffable condition transmigrating through consciousness. What we know today, changes tomorrow, depending upon circumstances. The memories of one lifetime fade, just as they evaporate from one lifetime to another. We are the sum of our actions throughout all time and space, connected to absolutely everything, a reflection in a mirror of all possibilities. We transmigrate together, from all points of view, as one, even if we are not aware of our real condition. To truly understand, we need to have direct experience of the Nature of Mind. The ineffable cannot be achieved through any intellectual process or even a multitude of deep philosophical endeavors.
Thank you, Robert.
I have a question, and I´d really appreciate a reply from you. Can you please tell me what is it within us that reincarnates? If our real Self is absolute, and my insights lead me to that conclusion, doesn´t it mean that reincarnation is a fiction imposed over our true "I"?
Be careful not to reify our real condition. We are beyond the sort of thing we would regard as a self. The only thing we can say we are when we are in that absolute condition is awareness suffused with emptiness. It's not an object or something we can point to. We've been an innumerable number of beings, and self never stays the same. It's like when we dream we can imagine that we are someone else who is not who we are in daily life; or, we can even dream that we are several people at once who have nothing to do with our daily self. What is reborn is simply consciousness. Each time it is reborn, it is a different point of view, with unique experiences and new problems. The old self is shed entirely. This is why it is simply empty awareness. Anything can happen.
Thank you very much! Yes, when I spoke about a "self" I did not mean any particular object that I consider to be "I", but rather an impersonal Aware Space that hosts my individuality and other´s.
I am sorry to insist, but I still have doubts. That "empty awareness" we spoke about is impersonal by definition, and it is also my understanding that has no qualities whatsoever, which is the reason why it is able to "host" all that is personal and has objective qualities. If the awareness that hosts my present body-mind perspective is the same that hosts a previous life where I was, say, a soldier (and I believe that´s the case, since empty Awareness is not in space-time and has no spacio-temporal qualities or personal charachteristics, so there can´t be two awarenesses), then the thing that reincarnates should be something objective, some physical or mental quality that was present in my life as a soldier and also in my present life. What could that be?
Sorry for this. I am not challenging you, but I really haven´t found any satisfactory explanation for this and I think you can explain it.
So, this self is just an illusion. We imagine ourselves, even though there has never been a self. It is like a wave in an ocean thinking that it is separate from the ocean, and an ocean that thinks it is separate from other oceans. Even though nothing could exist without absolutely everything else in the universe, it is illusory to think that something could be separate. So, even in our daily life, this thing we think of as separate and constant, is constantly changing and interdependent. We are awareness, without knowing that we are aware. We are that ineffable condition transmigrating through consciousness. What we know today, changes tomorrow, depending upon circumstances. The memories of one lifetime fade, just as they evaporate from one lifetime to another. We are the sum of our actions throughout all time and space, connected to absolutely everything, a reflection in a mirror of all possibilities. We transmigrate together, from all points of view, as one, even if we are not aware of our real condition. To truly understand, we need to have direct experience of the Nature of Mind. The ineffable cannot be achieved through any intellectual process or even a multitude of deep philosophical endeavors.