Graduation

Here we are at the last exercise. After it is finished, I’ll add a personal note.

Today’s statement. Read it with your heart looking over your shoulder.

Here’s Walter. “He” now appears to “be” “enlightened.” We are not fooled by this.

Let’s sum up everything about “his” “world.” This symbolic representation of a human being now represents “getting it” or “enlightenment.” “His” “life” is a complete illusion. “His life” is symbolic of qualities that are not actually present in “his world.” “He” is not a sentient entity. “He” does not experience. That which witnesses “his life” and interprets and makes meaningful “its” symbolism is beyond “his” ALL-THIS-cartoon-world. Simply put, any quality of this “world” is non-existent, and when you, a non-cartoon observer, are witnessing this “world” you have mental experiences which are themselves merely symbols of qualities.

As a walter-reader, you are this cartoon-world’s witness. Indeed, as all the exercises point to, you are the only witness of-not just your own nervous system or a walter-world-but also ALL THIS which includes these things. It is you who enlivens the cartoon-world and makes it “seem” to have values, qualities-substance. Walter and “his” “world” are exactly like words on a paper-symbols only that must have a reader that actually has experienced the qualities that the paper symbols represent. Without such a reader, the symbols are not even symbols. If a tree falls in the forest…….

Walter “doesn’t” “own” the “shirt” “on” “his” “back,” because “he” is not an entity that CAN have anything. “He,” to you, is not even singular-“he” is a set of image-symbols that have been thus far observed by you, and “he” also is a much greater set of potential images that you would instantly recognize as belonging to the walter-images-set despite never having yet viewed them. All values that seem to be “in” “his” “world” are, in fact, merely electro-chemical operations that are “triggered” inside your nervous system when you view “his” symbols.

This knowledge about the walter-world is intuitively, deeply, true without needing any proof.

Notwithstanding the vital importance of distinguishing between the real and the symbolic, some persons fail to do so and get “caught up” with all manner of ridiculousness-typically this is called the “human condition.” In fact, your character is just such a ridiculous person, and not having clarity about the real/symbolic issue is the source of ALL YOUR CHARACTER’S PROBLEMS.

Your mind/body system, most of the time, regards aspects of ALL THIS as actual objects which “have” values instead of merely being triggering mechanisms of your mind/body’s electro-chemical processes-which themselves are merely internal symbols of values which actually and only reside in the potentiality of the witness. Being the witness, you are able to manifest through the mind/body any quality that the triggering “calls for.” The experiencing of the process of a quality being manifested in your nervous system is so intimate, so subtle, that you mistake the process for the quality-when it is actually the case that you ARE that quality-and all other qualities simultaneously.

The challenge of solving the predicament, the embarrassment, of having a mind/body is yours to accept or to toss aside. If accepted, your character’s “job” is to see if it can come to absolutely view its own operations as it now views “walter-operations.” Your mind/body must come to recognize its own status as ONLY a set of symbols which reflect or represent aspects of “the infinite set of all values” that is known by the word “witness.” You can experience symbols of qualities (processes in your nervous system,) but you can only BE the potentiality of that infinite set of all qualities, the witness.

These Consciousness Exercises, if dwelt upon, can serve many purposes for the character that wishes to ever more deeply imbue this knowledge as a vital and omnipresent dynamic in all the processes of the nervous system that is manifesting the character. History is filled with psychological, philosophical, and spiritual techniques-all claiming to help a “seeker” to find the true self. For you, some techniques might be better than others, but the very worst of them will suffice if your character is relentless, persevering, earnest, and honest. These personality qualities provide the basis for the constant use of whatever exercises or techniques are at hand until the concepts of witness, being, and consciousness saturate the character.

When using any psychological or spiritual technique (there are thousands,) the most powerful, core experience that can be obtained (since the witness cannot be experienced) is that of pure being. This is the state of least excitation of the body/mind. From this vantage, the character balances between being and non-being, silence and noise, ALL THIS and the witness. In pure being, “amness” is the only manifest quality-a very simple situation with none of the confusion of “normal operations” to “drown out” this delicate state. After the mind/body has spent some time at this existential junction point, realization of the witness “spontaneously occurs.”

Many of these Consciousness Exercises (and thousands of other techniques) can “take” “you” “to” this “doorway.” (Remember that you, the real you, being the witness, are already on the “other side” of the doorway.) Once “you,” the mind/body, are “stabilized” “in” pure being, from there “sudden realization” of your witness status “automatically happens.”

Dwelling in pure being is the basic goal of all spiritual techniques, but often it does not clearly seem to be the case since jargon differs from technique to technique. For instance, you may be worshipping God as your technique and find pure being is the result. During some types of prayer a sense of greater and greater peace and love develops into a profoundly infinite feeling of silence, and naturally, after having the experience you may find yourself using religious concepts to communicate to yourself or others about the experience-rather than trying to “port” your heartfelt language into the more “emotion free” jargon that a psychologist might prefer. God is ALL THIS. Worshipping God invariably results in developing finer and finer awareness of the purest form of your CONCEPT of God. This purest form is most fully expressed as your own inner sense of being. The mechanics of the religious experience are completely compatible with any of the tenants expressed within these exercises.

Other techniques are secular and seem quite out of the “religious realm.” Yet they too can lead you to that state of least excitation from which the “leap into” the realization of your status as the witness “occurs.” The “secular techniques” work for atheists or saints. Once your true status as witness is realized (not achieved,) issues that are religious in format are easily assimilated and found completely compatible with your “new” world view.

In either case, whether religious or secular methods are used, the goal is ALWAYS union with the ultimate. The witness is the ultimate. The character acts as if the ultimate is a “thing” and labels it with “thing names” like: the soul of God, the observer of ALL THIS, your inner self, transcendental consciousness, unqualified being, pure existence, etc. These “things” are all ways of talking about pure being (Universal Consciousness) from which ALL THIS manifests. This is because the experience of pure being, by definition, precludes any other thoughts occurring, and after having had that experience, the character remembers it as pure unity without any quality except amness. However, it’s okay to let the character “have its little belief” that pure being is the ultimate goal. Dwelling in pure being is just the thing for a character to “do.” From that point, the witness can be realized. Once the witness status is realized, the character then, ironically, continues “its” “life” as it would have even had the witness not been realized. Yet all illusions will have been pierced like a child’s balloon-forever.

Clarity about your witness status is NOT a requirement for a successful and wonderful and complete life. ALL THIS is running the show, and it will determine if your character will take that leap. That said, if you are interested in the knowledge discoverable by using the exercises (or thousands of other techniques,) chances are that you will eventually take that leap, otherwise, not, and no error will have occurred. ALL THIS is perfection’s reflection. Clarity about that can brings clarity to all other worldly issues.

Walter is not enlightened. You, as a character in the great drama that ALL THIS is, cannot become enlightened either, but you, in your true status as witness, are completely beyond any need for enlightenment. Dwelling repeatedly in pure being is the technique for proving this final statement: You are perfection and ALL THIS is your reflection.

Ask yourself,Now that the exercises have ended, what questions should I ask myself?

Edg’s personal note:

Writing these exercises has been a profound consciousness exercise for me. How could it be otherwise, eh? I would very much like to hear from you about your experiences with them. I expect that such feedback will be an equally profound and educational experience for me. You can write to me directly at [email protected]

What next? I don’t know, and neither does anyone else! After all, the person who is writing to you right now is only a character! Universal Consciousness surprises me too. Basically, I haven’t a clue. Despite that, let me say that I have had thoughts about developing the exercises into a much more sophisticated tool set. Stay tuned, and over time we’ll all see what actually gets manifested.

One interesting result of this project is quite wonderful: I find myself caring about you without knowing the least about you. Let’s do lunch! This project has been about expanding happiness which is the deepest purpose of life. I am, at this very moment, wishing just that for your character despite having no attachment to the outcome of such wishes.

May you walk with the sun and the moon and all the stars for as long as you wish.

My sincerest regards,

Edg Duveyoung