Living the Paradox of Enlightenment: Spiritual Awakening in Simple, Clear English by Thomas Razzeto

Author:Thomas Razzeto [Razzeto, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Razzeto
Published: 2017-04-02T23:00:00+00:00

God and Creation – The One and the Many

Next I want to present a table listing some of the phrases that point to God and creation. If you are not comfortable with any of these words, then by all means, use the words you like. There are plenty to choose from. I do best with English so my favorite phrase for God is Source-Awareness because it presents the two capacities of this transcend Reality: the capacity to create, and the capacity to perceive.

Timothy composed a similar list way back in 1991 and posted it on his site in 2006. But I had not seen it until after I compiled my own list. Some of these phrases are frequently used at Timothy’s satsangs and this is why there are some identical phrases on both lists. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy pondering these phrases. Here’s my list:

God and Creation

The One … and … The many

Source-Awareness … and … The objects of awareness

Transcendent Source … and … Dependent creation

Vibrationless Witness … and … All vibrations

Infinite Openness … and … Finite form

Formlessness … and … Formfulness

Invisible Sentience … and … Ever-changing sensations

Pure Aliveness Itself … and … Inert objects

Pure Sentience Itself … and … Blind objects

Absolute Reality … and … Relative reality

Fundamental Reality … and … Nonfundamental reality

Shiva … and … Shakti

Brahman … and … Maya

Nirguna Brahman … and … Saguna Brahman

Reality without qualities … and … Reality with qualities

Always Awake Dreamer … and … The dream

The Unchanging One … and … The always changing many

The One Invisible Actor … and … The many characters

The One True Self … and … The many apparent selves

The Unconstructed … and … The constructed

The Story Teller … and … The story

The Animator … and … The animated

The Lover … and … The beloved

Notice that I did not use the phrase “The Void,” a term many people really like. This ties in with the word “emptiness,” which is the common translation of the word “shunyata” in Buddhism. While these words do a good job of pointing to the formless aspect of Source-Awareness, for whatever reason, I personally don’t lean towards the use of these words. But of course if like them, you should keep using them.

Timothy and a few respected Buddhist scholars think that a better translation of “shunyata” is “openness” and this of course points to the open capacity for experience that you intuitively know yourself to be. So I don’t think of myself as empty or emptiness.

How do you feel when you think of yourself as “The Void”? Compare that to how you feel when you think of yourself as this open capacity for experience or pure, open Awareness. Just take a minute to meditate on each of these and perhaps you will see what I mean.

Notice that both “The Void” and “emptiness” do not point to the two capacities of Source-Awareness. This is such an important flaw that I don’t think these words are very helpful for newcomers and this is why I don’t use them.

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