Eternity Now

by Francis Lucille

  Are you in this state of fulfillment at this moment?

  There is no one in that state. This non-state is the absence of the person.

  Do you go in and out?

  It isn’t a state.

  Are you awake in that state?

  This non-state is awake to itself. It is awareness. I am awareness, you are awareness.

  In that case, you are aware that everything is in its place?

  From the point of view of awareness, everything is awareness, thus everything is in its place. Nothing is tragic. All is light, all is presence.

  Given that we are light and that the things around us are also that light, do you see things differently from us?

  No. I see everything exactly the way you do, but there are things you believe you see that I don’t see. I don’t see a personal entity in the picture. Even if an old habit arising from memory comes up, it is totally objectivized. It is simply part of the picture. It is not what I am. I don’t take myself as something thought of or perceived. That is all. You can do the same thing. You are free. It is enough to just try. Do it! Right now!

  How do I go about it?

  Each time you take yourself to be an object, for example, a body or a man with a certain profession, be aware of it.

  So there is a self at a higher level that observes the situation. Is that the perspective?

  That is the intellectual understanding of the perspective, not its reality. The reality is your welcoming attention, not the concept of your welcoming attention, or the concept of yourself as welcoming attention. It is simply your luminous presence, without tension or resistance, welcoming moment by moment the thought or sensation that is coming into being, letting it unfold freely, and letting it reabsorb into itself without leaving any traces. This original light is not an absence but a fullness. Surrender yourself to it. Let yourself be overcome by it.

  The Direct Path

  When we experience enlightenment, do we have knowledge of our past incarnations? Is this what the Ch’an masters mean when they speak about seeing our original face?

  The one who “experiences” enlightenment is not a limited entity allegedly subject to reincarnation. There is only one light, one awareness, in which all times, all worlds, and all incarnations have their being in a timeless simultaneity beyond the grasp of the serial mind. In fact, nobody experiences enlightenment, because it is a non-objective experience in the absence of a personal entity. It could be said that, in this non-experience, our original face sees itself; there all questions find their ultimate answer.

  If there is an end to ignorance, there must be also a beginning to it. How could it be “beginningless”? If there is a beginning to delusion, how can I be certain that it won’t begin again after it has ended?

  Everything that has a beginning and an end originates from, exists in, and merges with this timeless background of awareness. Although everything appears to have a beginning and an end in time, a deep investigation will show that in reality everything, including the notions of time and space, has its origin and its end in our timeless essence: awareness, our real “I.” Having its origin and its end in consciousness, such a “thing” is not different from awareness. Its substance is awareness, just as gold is the real nature of a ring. It follows that everything is pure consciousness, pure being, pure bliss. Time and all other objects, as such, are illusions. They borrow their reality from consciousness, but they have no independent existence, and, therefore, no beginning and no end in time. When you speak of delusion, you implicitly assume that there is a person who is deluded and who will become enlightened at some point in the future. If you seriously inquire about this personal entity, it will turn out to merely be a perceived object, made of thoughts and bodily sensations, subject to appearance and disappearance, totally distinct from the permanent self you intuitively know yourself to be. Who then was subject to delusion? It couldn’t possibly be awareness, your real self, the ultimate truth; but, on the other hand, it couldn’t possibly be a personal entity either, because such an entity is a perceived object which, being lifeless and non-sentient, can’t be deluded. When this is understood, it becomes clear that nobody has ever been deluded. If nobody has ever been deluded, then nobody will, nor can, ever be delivered from ignorance. So, the question of falling into delusion again can’t arise at that level. Your question is posed from the illusory level of an ego. It assumes that the ego, which is delusion itself, and the origin of all delusion, can be delivered some day from ignorance. It is ignorance playing with the thought that it can be liberated from ignorance, and subsequently worrying that it may fall again into ignorance.

  ***

  I keep thinking about enlightenment and wondering whether or not it is a formless state. When you said, a few days ago, that all limitations are perceived, I immediately saw it to be true. I realized that any belief I might have about enlightenment is just another limitation.

  Yes, your belief about enlightenment being formless is a limitation superimposed onto that which you are. When you try to imagine happiness or truth, you first try to see it as an object, gross or subtle, profane or sacred. Then, at some point, you begin to think that it isn’t an object, so you try to imagine it as a non-object, a void, and you arrive at a blank state which you usually can’t maintain (some yogins can). This state isn’t the splendor, certainty, and bliss you are seeking. This blank state is often an enigma for the truth-seeker, who can’t go beyond it by his own efforts. To do so, the living presence of an instructor is required in most cases. This blank state is still an object. In order to go beyond this state, the mind has to understand that enlightenment is totally beyond its reach. When this is understood, the mind becomes naturally quiet, because it has no place to go. This spontaneous and effortless quieting of the mind is pure welcoming. In this openness lies the opportunity to be knowingly that which you are.

  ***

  Is my constant search for the truth driven by the ego?

  I feel that you are seriously interested in the truth, that the search for your true being is the most important activity in your life. I don’t mean that you aren’t interested in other aspects of life, but rather that your love for the ultimate truth has become the axis around which everything else revolves. If you were told that you had only a few days to live, I am certain that the central question in your mind would be about the ultimate. This should make clear to you where the gravitational center of your desires lies. Such a desire, such a dedicated search, doesn’t come from the ego, but from truth itself. You may also feel that when you surrender to your desire for the truth by investigating, by looking for new books, by meeting spiritual friends, you experience a foretaste of causeless bliss. So, I suggest that you recognize your love for understanding, take it as your guide, and surrender to it whenever it invites you. Know with complete certainty that the actions that flow from it are not ego-driven, unlike the fears, concerns, and doubts that arise from the notion of being a separate entity. Your search for the truth should be totally open-minded, free from any beliefs, or from any intellectual attachment to a specific religion or philosophy. It should be based solely on your intimate feeling of harmony, understanding, and devotion. Contemplate your innate beauty, intelligence, and love as you spontaneously respond to a majestic sunset, a scripture that points directly to the truth, a meeting with a friend who is free from the notion of being a personal entity, or more generally, to any situation in your life. In this way, your investigation remains lively, innocent, and effortless. It will lead you inexorably and joyfully to that background which is the common goal of religion and philosophy.

  ***

  Does the direct path consist in carrying on with everyday life while awaiting grace?

  We don’t have to carry on with anything. Life carries on with itself, by itself, without our intervention. Everything that comes to us unexpectedly is grace. Why wait for it? Why postpone it? Why fail to welcome it? Simply be open to the possibility that whatever the present moment is b
ringing to you is a gift from grace. That is the direct path.

  I understand that we must already be the ultimate reality, but this knowledge is covered up by ignorance.

  Yes. Your use of the word “must” implies that you are drawing a logical inference, which shows that the understanding to which you are referring, that we already are the ultimate, is intellectual. Nevertheless, this conceptual understanding leaves open the possibility that this is actually the case; that we are the absolute, the one without a second. If it is so, what we really are obviously stands beyond the grasp of our limited mind. When we see that the mind, in spite of all its abilities, is absolutely unable to comprehend the truth for which we are striving, all effort to reach enlightenment ceases naturally. This effortlessness is the threshold of real understanding beyond all limitations.

  Are you saying that the gradual paths, such as the path of understanding (Jnana Yoga), of right action (Karma Yoga), of devotion to the Divine, or to the spiritual teacher (Bhakti Yoga) are mistaken?

  When you understand the truth revealed in the scriptures, where is the ignorance? When you see things as they truly are, where is the illusion? When you act spontaneously in accordance with this true understanding, simply responding to the need, where is the doer? When, surrendering to the clear intelligence, the genuine humility, and the other divine qualities of your instructor, you drop your last limitations and merge into the sea of love that surrounds him, where is the devotee? Where is the teacher? Now then, if there is no ignorance, no delusion, no doer, no devotee, no instructor, who is walking on the gradual path? Who is mistaken? Who is claiming anything? Who is asking any questions?

  ***

  Isn’t it legitimate to use the term “enlightened person” when referring to someone from whom ignorance has been removed? If so, didn’t this removal occur at some specific point in time?

  Enlightenment is the absolute understanding that you are not a person. When this is understood, is there a person left from whom ignorance has been removed? Enlightenment is also the realization that time is an illusion. When this is realized, is there a specific point in time that can be assigned to this realization? These answers may seem intellectual to you. However, I assure you that they are simply honest and straightforward, and that they take you directly to the truth. I am reluctant to use the term “enlightened person” because it implies the belief that a personal entity might ever reach enlightenment. When you think of a beautiful human being, one you may call “enlightened,” his or her enlightenment originates from the absence of the idea of being anything objective. From the viewpoint of light, that is, in the absence of such a notion, nobody is enlightened, nobody is non-enlightened, everything is light. The direct path consists of taking this viewpoint and boldly staying there. In other words, understanding that you are not a limited entity, and feeling and living in accordance with this understanding. Although this position may seem unusual at first, you soon find that it is the door to the perfect way of living, just as a tennis player who has been taught the correct grip for the backhand realizes, after a series of strokes, that this new way of holding the racket creates the possibility for hitting the ball almost effortlessly, with increased power and precision.

  ***

  Although I know I am already that which I am seeking, thoughts still seem to prevent me from truly living in the present moment. How can I free myself from thinking?

  There are three kinds of thoughts: Practical thoughts, which are useful in conducting our business or our daily life. For instance, “I need to get some gas.” These types of thoughts should not be suppressed. Once they have been given due consideration and the required steps have been taken, they leave us spontaneously.

  Thoughts related to the ultimate, to our understanding of the non-dual perspective, such as, “I am already that for which I am looking.” These thoughts come from the ultimate. If we welcome them, they purify the mind from its dualistic conditioning and eventually take us back to their source. They bring about clarity and foreshadow the bliss which is inherent to our real nature.

  Thoughts related to the notion of being a personal entity, such as desires, fears, doubts, daydreaming, and other kinds of wishful thinking. Some thoughts of this third kind appear innocuous and are difficult to detect at first. A strong emotion that produces suffering and disharmony, such as jealousy or fear, can easily be detected. On the other hand, we may indulge pleasant thoughts for some time without noticing, such as imagining yourself vacationing on the beaches of the French Riviera.

  It is a common error to consider any kind of thought as an obstacle to self-realization. Only the thoughts in the third category are obstacles to knowingly being the absolute. There are two ways to deal with these thoughts as they arise:

  If we still believe that we are a limited personal entity and we notice such a thought, we should attempt to find its source, the ego. When we attempt to catch it, it vanishes and we experience our innate freedom for what seems to be a very brief moment. This glimpse of the truth reveals to us that we are not a personal entity. Repeated glimpses reinforce this revelation until it becomes a conviction.

  Once we are convinced that we are not a personal entity, the thoughts of the third kind usually keep recurring for some time as a matter of habit, just as inertia keeps an electrical motor running after its power cord has been unplugged. In this case, there is no need to investigate the origin of these thoughts. We can simply drop them as soon as we notice them.

  Sri Ramakrishna once said, “When an onion is completely peeled, all the layers are removed and no substance is left. Similarly, on analyzing the ego no entity can be found. Unfortunately, I still have a few layers to go!”

  This last sentence is a typical thought of the third kind. Enjoy your thoughts about the ultimate and the peace that comes with them.

  ***

  You indicated that daydreaming is always negative, because it takes one away from the present and into duality. However, it can also be creative, as evidenced by Kekule’s realization of the structure of the benzene ring during a period of daydreaming.

  This example is not one of daydreaming, but one of a meditative state in which the thinking process is totally free to evolve and explore all possibilities. We may experience this creative state during the transition between sleep and the waking state, a transitory moment when volition is usually weak. There are many examples of creative discoveries or inspirational moments of this kind in the arts and sciences. In this state, no notion of a personal entity is involved. We are the witness of a free thinking process which evolves through visualization and spatial representation. These thoughts become more and more subtle, until they finally dissolve in intelligence, being, and happiness. Coming out of this non-experience, the scientist or the philosopher says, “I understand,” the artist is inspired to write a poem or a symphony, and the ordinary person finds the solution to a daily-life problem which was haunting him. This meditative state may appear at first to be a dream state, because the objects that are present in consciousness at that time are of a subtle quality: they are mental images and thoughts, not external sense perceptions, as in the waking state. What makes this state a meditative state is the absence of a person. The subject of this state is not present in this state as a person acting, enjoying, and suffering. The subject is the pure witness. This state provides us with a natural entry point to meditation. When we wake up, this transitional state is often still present. Instead of letting the concerns relating to the objects of the waking state gradually take possession of our mind, we can allow the fragrance of the transitional state to permeate into the waking state. In other words, if we remain in the remembrance of the peace and freedom of deep sleep, for as long as this peace accepts us, it will become more and more clear that the waking state literally “wakes up in us,” and that we don’t wake up in it as previously believed. After a while, we will feel the continuous presence of that background of peace during our daily activities.

  By contr
ast, daydreaming is a kind of mental activity through which the personal entity escapes an actual and current life situation which is “boring” or “painful,” and projects itself into a subtle fantasy world. This type of thought usually goes unnoticed, because, unlike other forms of egoistic thoughts and emotions, such as anger, hatred, jealousy, envy, or greed, it doesn’t appear to disrupt the social harmony or bring about any psychological suffering. After all, to take oneself for a person is well accepted and encouraged in our Western society, and daydreaming is considered to be innocuous. For these reasons, this activity is an ideal hiding place for the ego, and any serious truth-seeker should be aware of this problem.

  When my mind becomes still during meditation, I am still aware of sense perceptions. How does this relate to the story about the arrow-maker whose attention was so perfect that he was not aware of the king’s wedding procession passing by outside? Is my meditation incorrect?

  There are two kinds of meditation: meditation with an object and non-objective (or non-dual) meditation. The first kind of meditation requires focusing the attention onto a specific object, gross or subtle, such as a statue or a mental image of the divine, various bodily sensations, a series of sacred sounds, or a concept. In this process, an effort is necessary in order to remove one’s attention from the usual objects of desire, which, if successful, gives the impression that the ego is weakened. The mind is focused on the object and one experiences a stillness, an absence of thoughts or emotions other than those referring to the object of meditation, even in the presence of the king going by in his wedding procession. However, the samadhi which is experienced is a mind-created state which has a beginning and an end. Sooner or later, the yogin must come out of samadhi. Unfortunately, the ego is still present, along with its cortege of fears, desires, and pains.