Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery by A. H. Almaas

Author:A. H. Almaas [Almaas, A. H.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2014-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

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THE MYSTERY OF EMPTINESS

AS WE UNDERSTAND THE dynamic of realization, by utilizing the view of totality to explore how practice is related to realization, we open up and reveal the true condition of reality. We do this so that each of us has more freedom and openness in our inquiry, so that each of us has more freedom and capacity to live authentically and to live in a way that reveals the mysteries of Being. We can’t truly and completely be settled, peaceful, and happy unless we participate in the freedom of the dynamism of Being, in the inherent values of Living Being. In other words, the freedom of the dynamism of Being to reveal its possibilities without constraints is experienced by human beings as the freedom to be, as liberation, satisfaction, and happiness.

When Living Being is free to reveal and express its possibilities, its inherent true nature, its purity and mystery, it is the same thing as the individual fulfilling his or her design. And as long as we don’t fulfill our design, as long as we are not living in harmony with our design, we are bound to be dissatisfied. Depending on the constraints that limit the dynamism of our being, our dissatisfaction can appear in many ways that reveal old, patterned, and known ways of being.

The habitual way that human beings participate in the dynamism of Being is known as the conventional view. We usually participate in the revelation of reality by being a self that exists on its own, among other selves and other objects in a world of linear time and space. This is commonly known as the ego, or dualistic, perspective. As a view, the ego perspective is neither bad nor a problem. Most nondual teachings consider the ego view delusional; they think that the dual experience of reality is false. But reality does appear as ego experience and, as such, it is only delusional if viewed from the perspective of the nondual. The view of totality recognizes it as simply one of many ways that reality manifests. The real difficulty with the ego view is that it obstructs and closes us to other possibilities of Being. The ego perspective limits the freedom of our nature to respond appropriately to the situations in which we find ourselves. At the center of this conventional view or ordinary philosophy is what we think of as our self. The sense of self is the center or foundation of the ego view—“I am here, and I am in the world, and I perceive things from here, and I act according to my preferences.” Many traditions consider this position to be ignorance or delusion. The delusion of the ego view is in its sense of finality—“This is what reality is and that’s that.” If the ego understood that its view is only one of many ways that reality manifests, then its position would not be a delusion. It’s true that the dual view is one way that reality happens. But believing this one way to be definitive is the delusion of the ego view.

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