Jean Klein - Non State

“But at other times when you say I exist, you are heading towards the perception of a non-state, which is neither of the body nor of the mind. This non-state is being, it is indeterminable, cannot be located mentally or physically. It is neither a thought nor a feeling. This non-state is identical to that of your surroundings. You are of the very same essence. In this non-state there are no surroundings. If there is another, that is, if there are surroundings, there is an I, and vice-versa.
“Our surroundings are not contained by name and form. You are neither the body nor the mind, these are limits you identify with through a lack of clear-sightedness. When you are attentive to a tree or flower, the perception, shape, name and concept are not the only things present. There is also the All-presence that you share with them and that you are both part of. The very name and form spring forth from this eternal background, the All-presence. This is instantaneous awareness that cannot be reached by thought.”

.

“All disciplines are fixations: discipline excludes everything, except the one thing that one wishes to concentrate upon. Thus one establishes a dictatorship over oneself and all understanding is jeopardized. What is absolutely necessary is attention without strain. When I observe myself, I am really forced to admit that every day I am the prisoner of a thousand unsatisfied desires, or desires whose satisfaction brings me no permanent bliss. So it seems to me that instead of endless running from one desire to another, it would be better to stop and examine the true nature of desire. If this investigation is successful you will penetrate the nature of the true aim of all desire. What any desire really aims at, is a state of non desire. This non desire is a state in which we demand absolutely nothing. Thus it is a state of extreme abundance, of fullness. This fullness is revealed as being bliss and peace. You now know that you are really seeking nothing else but fullness and absolute peace. Now that you have understood the inner nature of your ultimate goal, you perceive that the ultimate goal is, in fact, not a goal, that is to say an end towards which you strive, but that the ultimate state can only be the consequence of relaxing and letting go. Liberation is not to be obtained by collecting and accumulating, but by being rooted in a state of being which is truly ours and in which we live constantly without knowing it. Even if we wished to, we could not live for a single moment outside of this state.”

Jean Klein