Bill: I think the knowledge is sinking in. I understand that I must be awareness because the Jiva is known to me. Is the next step “knowing” that everything is shining as existence, which means that everything is me?
Dave: There is no next step with regard to self knowledge. Knowing you are not the Jiva, which is knowing you are awareness, is the knowledge.
Awareness = Existence = You, and as there is nothing other than that, so you shine as everything. Everything “else” depends on you for its existence.
Bill: Ok, I understand the logic behind that, but I will need to contemplate it more because attachment to the Jiva is still there. I will keep doing the “work” until that attachment is gone!
Dave: The thing is, there is no work to do, there is only something to know. You are awareness right now, whole and complete, and you always have been. There is absolutely nothing you can do to become what you are. There is only knowing it, which means recognizing it, as it is.
You do understand the logic clearly. It is important not to doubt that. The contemplation needed is not so much on the logic itself, but on how the logic does its work. How does the logic apply to me, right now? That is the question. The logic is flawless because it is simply expressing the fact of what I am, so the “problem” I believe still exists must lie elsewhere.
Think of a person who wants to learn how to play the guitar. He needs to get a guitar, take lessons, implement many techniques, and gradually he will learn the guitar. He has a lot he can and must do, since he is not yet a guitar player and wants to become one. Knowledge alone is insufficient to achieve his goal. Doing is required.
Now, think of a person who is searching for his glasses, and his friend points out “hey, they are right there in your hand.” What does that person need to do to know where his glasses are? Nothing, the glasses are already in his hand! The ignorance about the location of his glasses vanishes when knowledge of the location appears.
The moment he understands it, a thought is generated that says “lift your hand up and observe that the glasses are in your hand.” This happens automatically. Once he does that, another thought will be generated that says “put the glasses on.” This also happens automatically.
Therefore, nothing more than understanding that “the glasses are in my hand” is actually required of him, because once he understands (which is not an action), no more effort is even possible for him to find his glasses. They are no longer lost. Any “doing” after that takes place automatically, as dictated by the situation.
Bill: I notice that the Jiva is trying to pull me back into ignorance and forget who I am. Yet, I know that is not accurate because the Jiva is inert and has no power of its own. It is quite the enemy!
Dave: The Jiva is not “trying to pull you back into ignorance,” the Jiva is ignorance! It is inert yes, but you make it not inert (not really but as if) when you give it your power.
Your enemy is yourself, the one that thinks it wants to be free but actually is perfectly content with this story of “not getting there yet.” I am not saying YOU don’t want to be free, I am saying that there is a part of you that thinks it wants to be free – a part which you feel good about – but it is the enemy in disguise because it is the very same part that tells you you are not free.
This part is the doer of action, and it is very, very sneaky! It is also extremely proficient at its job, which is its own survival. It does not have the capacity to actually desire freedom, since it is inert, but it is a shapeshifter that just as happily assumes the role of “dedicated inquirer” as it does “stuck person who does not get it yet.” Both are perfectly fine with it, as they each fulfill the purpose of its survival.
You (awareness) do not and cannot “want” to be free, because you just are (free). You love the idea of freedom and you crave freedom because you love yourself as you already are. Freedom and wholeness feel familiar and natural because that is you. That’s why you never want to get away from those feelings. Jiva is fine as it is too. It is only a problem when you take it – and its requisite problems – to be what you are.
