Paradoxes of Perception

Back in Not Yet Enlightenment in August, I commented on Tom Stine’s blog post of similar title. Discussion there has continued in comments and it seems a point was worth touching on here.

As the suitably named Flow observed, “the essence of the absolute is changing, *as we attend to it*…
*the absolute* is also seeking awareness of *itself*, and using us to do this.”

Tom pointed out that “The absolute as Being is the unchanging. As Becoming it is the changing. Being – Becoming. Becoming – Being.”

It’s very tricky to put this stuff into words. Words are like memory, representations of something else. Do they have the same representations for me as they do for you? Enough to communicate perhaps… (laughs)

The key point about all this is to remember its all a perspective. There is one reality but many, many ways of experiencing it. I’m not even sure if a human nervous system is capable of taking it all in.

You are having a clear experience of the absolute but also seeing that it seems to change. That change is no different than It. This is a good experience but there is an even deeper value.

The key thing is that it appears to change because of shifts in our perception from moment to moment. Shifts in how we “attend to it” if you will.

This shifting is taking place as the perceiver is still distinct from the perceived and the relationship between them shifts. One experience that may arise is the collapse of time. When the past and future collapse fully into the moment. Then we see everything happening at once. One of the reasons Eastern gods are shown with many arms, heads, etc.

Space (as a construct) collapses when the perceiver collapses into the perceived, when they are not seen to be different. When the Self flows back into itself. When it is fully allowed to be what it is.

When there is no longer any difference and it’s all at once, there is no change to happen.

The only difference between this perception and your perception is the clarity of perception. None of it actually ever changes.

The problem with a description like this is that the mind cannot comprehend it. Thus, a teacher will tell stories in metaphor. Or they describe it in a way that can be related to, a little ahead of current perception. Like your quote from Tom. Lead the student to the next greatest truth.

For example, at first it seems it is us working to awaken. After first awakening, we see it as Self working through us, so Self seems to the one that was awakening through us after all. But in Oneness, we are the Self and were never not awake. So there was nothing to do and no process to accomplish. A ‘way’ or process can become meaningless. Where do you need to go to get where you are?

Each of these is completely true at that point in our path. The teacher will naturally speak to what is useful.

An analogy about change comes to mind. If you look out at a distant horizon and scan your eyes across it, you will see variations in the landscape. (perhaps less so on the prairies 😉 But did your looking change it? Is the landscape changing before your eyes? Change only appears because we are shifting our attention across time. When our attention includes all time, nothing changes.

Make any sense? (laughs)

BTW – this does not mean it’s boring. It means we’re not stuck in a tiny little box. We are the vastness of everything in an unimaginably large playground.
Davidya

Last Updated on April 27, 2018 by Davidya